Julius

Just read that pre-orders for the game are up on eShop, and it comes in at...a whopping 1.8GB. It still blows my mind how good Nintendo are at optimising their games.

I’d take that all day long, honestly. If the majority of that stuff comes between this E3 and the next one, that still leaves potential for big hitters like Bayonetta 3, Pikmin 4, Mario Kart 9 (would a reveal next year be too soon for that?) the more-core-than-Let’s Go-which-is-also-core-but-not-really-core core series Pokémon Switch game, and Animal Crossing for next year. And probably a Super Mario Bros. title. That sounds both realistic and awesome, at least to me. I just hope that they’re a bit more consistent in releasing their tentpole titles than they have been so far this year (it definitely looks like the next six months are going to be saturated with potentially great games), and/or that we see more third parties finally get in on the act and reveal their games that have been hashed out in just over two years come next E3.

Done

In case you’re in need of a chuckle... How does everyone feel about Pokémon’s attempts to push a second series mascot in Eevee, by the way? It seems a smart move, though I suppose it could also be argued as being more Gen I pandering

Sure thing. Would you like me to spoiler tag the above post? I’m genuinely not quite sure how people feel about that particular news on that particular game, as it’s a port of a popular game which has been rumoured to be coming to the Switch for a long time, and which we’ve previously discussed at a reasonable length. I don’t think that anyone is particularly surprised by the notion of it coming to the platform, and I’m not sure how much it means to people that this seems to have slipped through ahead of E3, when compared to, say, a potential Nintendo first party game or surprising third party partnership leaking. Plus, I think the source on this one is about as official as it can get without coming directly from the developers/publisher themselves. It’s a slip-up in the system of having a game produced, and not so much a potential leak or rumour floating around on some message board (or, if you’re Ubisoft, a photo of someone’s laptop on a train ). I think it’s also very different when we have a thread such as the Pokémon Switch thread - as talk in there is either more often than not discussion about any news on the game, which I think potential leaks would come under; and, because it is an unrevealed but announced title and has its own thread, I suppose those that enter that thread are actively trying to find news on the game - or threads for your annual CoD or biennial Battlefield games, which are always expected to be coming. I do think that a few ground rules need to be set and agreed upon, otherwise we’re going to end up with a place covered in spoiler tags, many of which would almost seem unnecessary: is anyone really going to be that surprised when we get a third entry in that moderately well received [publisher name here] franchise, which has seen a game released every few years for a while now, and would talk about something so expected really spoil E3 for someone as in touch with gaming news as those here? If I’m remembering the last few years correctly, the more noteworthy and surprising E3 leaks seem to happen from around the end of March up until the start of E3 proper, so maybe it would be worth clamping down a bit more on leaks (regarding E3 specific news) during that window? I’m just a little worried that too strict an enforcement of this in cases where it’s not really necessary could lead to a lot of tiptoeing around, both by those who care about being spoiled and those who don’t, and more than likely result in virtual silence here in the weeks leading up to E3 All that being said, I’ll happily comply and spoiler tag that post if you do deem it necessary, as I don’t want to spoil anyone’s joy when it comes to something like E3. I know that some people take time off from work to watch this at home, or take time at work to sneak in the last few minutes of a conference or a trailer here and there, so I want to respect their time and want for potential elation at a truly surprising announcement.

Fortnite for Switch has been all but confirmed by the Korean Game Ratings Board. For those who have seen the leaks floating around regarding Nintendo’s E3 video presentation, in which this game was listed, I suppose it’s just been given a rather significant boost in credibility.

Nice to know that I didn’t mess up on the BST conversions They can turn the company around in the public eye almost completely, but it’s nice to see that some things will never change

Think I prefer that design for Girafarig, especially given that it’s name is a palindrome Really interesting that the rest of Japan was going to serve as the backdrop for these games. Also, I love how Kanto was just wedged into the bottom corner in what is assumed to be “a fit of madness” I really want a return to Asia, if not Japan specifically, at some point down the line for region inspiration. China and Korea specifically would be really interesting to see, and I think that the former makes a lot of sense seeing as we only started getting Chinese localisations with Gen VII; it would be a great way to push the franchise, and Nintendo as a whole, over there. I was reading about Satoshi Tajiri only the other day, about, for at least the twentieth time, how the franchise came to be. It got me thinking that I’d really love to see a biopic of Tajiri, and then it made me realise that it would be great if we were to get a series of professionally produced, decently budgeted biopics or documentaries on the people who had the largest effect on gaming. One can wish I guess

Honestly, and I think the whole gaming community would agree with me when it comes to this observation: Bluehole are coming immensely jealous of the success that Fortnite has had. As a business, I can understand why they’re upset to see something so similar to their product performing so well. However, they almost seem to think that they’re entitled to the mindshare that Fortnite has had in addition to PUBG’s, just because they share the same genre, and they’re doing nothing to spin that narrative by going around declaring the game as being a rip-off of their product and suing Epic. PUBG was something of an overnight success, but it hasn’t been sustained because of how unprepared and poorly managed Bluehole has been since then. By contrast, Epic was extremely lucky to have been positioned as well as they were to jump in on a red hot craze in Battle Royale, but their organisation and management has seen that sustained, and maybe even pushed further. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this as it evolves, and it’ll be very interesting to see how things pan out.

Yeah, that’s certainly a possibility. I think he’s shown with Real that his style of managing and play is much more suited to knockout cup football than the standard week-in and week-out affair that comes with managing in a 38 game per season league. I think another possibility is that he knows that if he stayed on, he would have had to start revamping the Madrid squad, because they’re going to be in need of a serious overhaul within the coming transfer years. I don’t think that he wants to be part of that process. Of Real’s starting XI last Saturday, six were 30 or older, and their starters had an average age of 31.5 years. By stark contrast, of Liverpool’s starting XI last Saturday, only one player - James Milner, 32 - was over 30 years old, and their starters had an average age of 25.8 years. I’ve already seen him mentioned in the hours since, and I think you’re absolutely right in thinking that Pochettino will be on the shortlist. As should Luis Enrique, in my opinion, who’s still somehow without a job. Honestly, I can’t think of many other big name managers who haven’t already declared their intentions ahead of next season, whether moving on or staying still, though this did come completely out of the blue, so maybe some minds could be changed? Given his tumultuous relationship with the board and some key players at Juve in the past, despite recently declaring his intention to stay, I think that Allegri is a name worth throwing in the hat, and I think that Zidane’s former captain in his time at Juve, Conte, is worth throwing in there too, seeing as he’ll likely be leaving us within the coming days or weeks, and plays some extremely aggressive and counter-attacking football, which Florentino loves. That, and Madrid’s defence needs some serious sorting out, and Conte has shown in his numerous managerial spells along the years that he can transform a defence. Looking further afield, given how late this seems to step down in a World Cup year, I think that we’ll see some dark horses mentioned. Probably household names, like Joachim Löw and Marcelo Bielsa.

Lampard’s appointment at Derby is likely to be completely overshadowed by this: Zidane is stepping down as Real Madrid manager. I’m excited to see where he goes next, but I’m a bit worried that he’s just going to leave Madrid as one of the most decorated managers in Europe and not move forward with his managerial career. We’ve seen some great tacticians in football, and I don’t think that Zidane is amongst them after his stint at Real, but I can’t think of any current manager who has as massive a presence as him in the dressing room. I seriously have zero idea where he goes next, if anywhere, especially seeing as everyone has already started making moves for managers ahead of next season. Italy or France, maybe? UPDATE Well, I guess that answers that.

Yeah, that’s a good point. I suppose another reason for them to leave Solo in May is because they know that it wouldn’t perform anywhere as well as Mary Poppins Returns will this Christmas. I’m genuinely not sure what to think going into IX’s principal photography this summer, because I do feel like Abrams has a point to prove with the film. This is closing out the trilogy, so hopefully his biggest weakness - his “mystery box” philosophy of storytelling - doesn’t come to the fore as it dead with TFA. I feel like IX has to take some risks, because, although I understand from a storyteller’s point of view that Rey having a simple flat arc makes room for Kylo’s comparatively much more complex one, I still don’t understand the motivations driving these characters to do what they do, whereas that was crystal clear in the original trilogy, and even in the prequel trilogy. Ben was sent off with Luke by his mother, wasn’t told about his grandfather’s true history as Darth Vader, and Luke acted in a regretful manner to help push him further away, but I don’t see how any of this drives him to want to rule the galaxy. Was Ben already showing evidence of his coming fall in training? Was he a violent, selfish and uncontrollable child? Because supplementary materials seem to paint him as happy as a child, and potentially frustrated under Luke’s guidance, but I feel like the film’s writers have so far been asking How did Ben fall? instead of Why did Ben fall? Probably doesn’t help any of the characters that there wasn’t a significant time gap between VII and VIII, because they haven’t had time to breathe and move in the wrong direction before they find their way. I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent in what is probably the wrong thread, but yeah: I just don’t see where they’re going to go with IX, whereas I knew exactly where they were going with III and VI. I’ll definitely be sure to check out Solo in cinemas, then. If anything, I suppose it’s just nice to see it on a bigger screen My problem with Rogue One’s first two acts is that they feel stitched together by a lot of fan service, which is great the first time around, but only has diminishing returns upon repeat viewings. The first ten or fifteen minutes are definitely the most confusing with all of the jumping around, and I really wasn’t a fan of the use of location cards, and the title card looked abysmal - like it was made in iMovie! I don’t think it really helps, in my case at least, that I find the final act to be leaps and bounds more cohesive and narratively engaging than the prior two, and I feel like I’m just waiting around for seventy or eighty minutes before things really get exciting. I expected substantial blowback going into The Last Jedi, because of the way that social media, hot takes and clickbait titles have dominated the film industry as of late, and also because Empire was relatively poorly received by critics back in its day, too. I went in expecting a film which would take multiple viewings to get my head around and thoroughly enjoy, and so I was very surprised when I came out of my first viewing incredibly on the fence about what I’d just seen. I literally would have given it a 5/10 if somebody asked me then and there for a score /10. I loved Rian’s way of storytelling before seeing the film, and I loved Looper (I feel like he’s be suitable for a live-action Akira adaption given his current CV), so I knew that I’d come around eventually, but it was certainly exhausting. If it wasn’t for those moments of stunning silence around halfway into the film, I think my views would have been leaning in the negative side of things after that first viewing. I’m glad that it (subjectively) gets better with each viewing, and that the film’s nuances and small winks come through the more that you watch it. It’s certainly up there with my favourite Star Wars media, and I can’t wait to see what Rian does with his trilogy. Yeah, I know what you meant

TFA didn’t have a space battle but I agree, Rogue One’s space battle was superbly directed, as was the entire third act of that film. It’s a shame it’s built on such rocky foundations, at least for me, when it comes to the first two acts I love to rewatch Star Wars films, but I think it’s one of those which is difficult to return to again and again because I find it to be so lopsided. As for Solo: haven’t watched it. I’m seeing mixed-to-positive reactions here, but as a massive Star Wars fan, I wouldn’t feel any urge to rush out and see this film, but especially given the timing of it (during exam season). If this were Episode IX or something like Rogue One, I’d probably have seen it a few times by now, but I’m genuinely in no rush, and it might be the first time that I just wait for the blu-ray. @Agent Gibbs, I think that’s why it’s crashed and burned at the box office, on top of being surrounded on all sides by films of excellent quality, many of which are from under the same Mouse-owned roof. I don’t think that the casual audience is burned out on Star Wars if all that they watch are the films, but I do feel like I’m personally getting there. The Last Jedi was exhausting for me as a fan, but I ended up loving it; then Rebels ended a few months ago in superb fashion, and both of these pieces of storytelling had a plethora of characters that I have been invested in for years. The lack of emotional investment that I have in the Solo cast as a whole going into the film isn’t their fault, but I do hope that Disney and Lucasfilm learn a valuable lesson from this: in a world with the MCU, simply applying the Star Wars branding won’t cut it. A prequel depicting Han Solo’s rise isn’t compelling because the only people that I’m invested in here going in are Han, Lando, and Chewie, and I know that they all survive. Rogue One was easy to become invested in because the event that it depicted was one we were already invested in due to the original film’s setup. Both of these spin-off films have also had massive problems behind-the-scenes, which makes me worry about Lucasfilm not trusting their directors and writers. I just hope that they learn. The Last Jedi was proof that they’re willing to take (seemingly) enormous risks to shake up the foundation of the franchise, but that’s put to bed instantly when we then go back and get told the story of Han Solo, which, by comparison, is such a safe move. I’m getting a lot of mixed signals from Lucasfilm is all I can say without having seen the film, but I’m not at all surprised that it’s performing so badly. I’ll probably try to see it if it’s still showing after my exams are finished, but if not...

Man, I love stuff like this. And damn, that buff Noctowl looks ready to take names and eat bugs.

Egypt have confirmed that Salah will be fit to return for the World Cup, thank goodness. Sarri has also reportedly held positive talks with our folks over in Milan, so hopefully that’s a deal which will be ironed out in the next few weeks.

Honestly, at this point, I think that the post-game itself has been whittled down to what they see as an obligatory checklist more so than anything else. I hate to say that, but the quality and quantity of what we’ve had to do in the post-game has been on a rapid decline since the DS games. I mean, XY’s had three legendaries (if I recall correctly, with virtually no context) - a roaming legendary bird, Mewtwo, Zygarde - and the Battle Maison. ORAS’ had the Delta Episode, which is relatively short; a ridiculous amount of legendary Pokémon coming out of floating dimensional hoops, but, again, with zero context; and the return of the Battle Maison. SM had a couple of routes and the Battle Tree. I can’t comment on USUM’s, as I haven’t played those games. As someone who isn’t that interested in the competitive side of things - not for the want of trying, but, rather, for the lack of time to invest - I really do feel like the DS titles spoiled me and anyone like me who doesn’t dive into the competitive side of things. Before, the time that I did invest outside of Battle Facilities still seemed worthwhile, because I was still rewarded with the levelling up of my Pokémon, but most games seem to run out of challenging trainers to throw the player’s way come the mid-Lv. 60s. Diamond and Pearl had a lot of legendaries with contextual relevance to the game, which continues the sense of exploration; an entire island to explore; the Battle Tower; and Wi-Fi mythical events which didn’t just hand you legendary Pokémon on a silver platter, but actually had some context. Platinum added four more Battle Facilities and Gym Leader rematches. Many argue that GSC/HGSS doesn’t have much of a post-game, as they don’t consider Kanto to be post-game but a continuation of the story, and I can’t exactly disagree with them, but those games are filled with enough content as it is. Black and White had a whole new part of the region to explore, and Black and White 2 added some more new areas; the Pokémon World Tournament; a truckload of legendary Pokémon; and a whole lot of rematches. I think they really struggled with post-game content when the transition was made to 3D, because of the focus on technology that such a drastic visual change entails. I just hope that they can deliver a meaningful post-game which caters to their entire audience with next year’s title/s, especially when one considers the hike-up in RRP that we’re likely to see from the 3DS games to the Switch games.

Yeah, I think this is fair. I’ve been trying to spoiler tag any leaks that I’ve posted here, but apologies if I’ve missed any. I’ll add a note at the top of the original post

I think that might have been me I’m not worried about next year’s game at all (I think things are actually shaping up for them to potentially hit it out of the park), but I’m worth you in being worried about what comes beyond that. Now, if Let’s Go becomes a spin-off series and we get one every other year between the traditional core series games, I’m fine with that: so long as I’m kept busy with high quality spin-off Pokémon titles worked on by third parties, like in the heyday of the DS, with series like Conquest, Pokémon Ranger and Mystery Dungeon potentially making a return, alongside complete new and original series. These were great because they still felt immersed in the Pokémon world, and gave another look at the world from the perspective of people who aren’t trainers. What I’m not fine with is potentially remaking every single core series Pokémon game as a Let’s Go title, especially if it means that we don’t see a return to Sinnoh in the traditional remake sense that we saw with FRLG, HGSS and ORAS, and instead end up with Let’s Go Riolu! and Let’s Go Bidoof!. Also, what happens when Let’s Go inevitably takes a sales knock, like every other remake compared to main series titles, or GO slowly starts to fade away? Do Game Freak just drop years of groundwork? I’m happy that they’re taking risks - though, compared to what many have been begging for with Gen VIII, this seems a relatively safe one, at least on the business side of things - but I am worried that they’ll spread themselves to thin. Last I checked, Game Freak had ~170 employees, which isn’t enough to sustain a title a year for a prolonged period of time by any stretch of our imaginations. While it’s certainly possible that this isn’t too much of a stressor for the team, and that they’re getting some help from Niantic and Nintendo proper, and considering that it’s “only” a remake, the fact that Masuda-san is directing these games is kind of worrisome to me because of the lack of directors around Game Freak to swap in and out for the traditional core series games (and, selfishly, that he’s made my favourite Pokémon entries and I’d rather he be spearheading the traditional core series games). As much as I enjoyed SM and ORAS, the Lovecraftian/sci-fi undertones that Ohmori-san is going for in his games is going to take a while to get used to, at least for me. Morimoto-san and Unno-san have other roles at Game Freak too, I’m sure, but they could certainly be in a position to spearhead some games too. As someone who mainly plays for the main story, Pokédex completion and the post-game content, this new direction doesn’t bother me too much, as I only spend ~50 hours with a given core series title these days. But I can understand your concern, @Glen-i, and that of others who have hundreds (if not thousands!) of hours invested in the competitive scene; I’m relatively confident that things will return to normal with Gen VIII next year, and not change too drastically as a result of Let’s Go, but I can appreciate how one with so much time invested in the series would be worried about this new direction, given how it leads to questions about whether your time investment - and, more importantly, enjoyment of the series up to this point - could become watered down or invalidated. I still err on the side of optimism for the future of the series, and I’m happy for those who like what they see in these new titles, I genuinely am. But I do think that those whom currently lean towards worry or pessimism have every right to do so at this stage, both with regards to this pair of games and to the future of the franchise. I do think that there’s been a lot left unsaid, which puts some unnecessary pressure on next year’s title/s.

More info coming during Bethesda’s E3 press conference.

They’re on an absolute roll this year. Did Emily Rogers or someone upset a Walmart employee or something?

@Dcubed, yeah, I definitely think that this is reusing the engine of Gen VII. At this point, judging from the Gen VI-like Chibi character designs, to the camera angle in the overworld, and to the walking animations that were in Sun and Moon, I definitely think it’s a project which has been stop-start and in the works for quite some time, and there are even some jagged edges to the Pokémon and character models on show. Like I said before, maybe it wasn’t always intended as purely a GO-meets-core series game, but perhaps as a fully fledged one for the 20th Anniversary. I’m genuinely not worried about Gen VIII at this point, because I’m already seeing a handful of things with these games that I want to see carried over to the new games. Pokémon in the overworld is something that I’ve been harping on about for a while, and, assuming that this game was in production prior to next year’s title/s, I think we could see it evolved further with the main series titles. The much more vibrant colour palette that I feel went missing after Gen V in favour of a washed out watercolour shaders is also on show in what we’ve seen with these games, so I hope those carry over too. Throw in a controllable camera and some of the stuff that we always want to see in a core series Pokémon game in next year’s title/s (a half decent narrative, some smart evolutions in gameplay and game design features added in previous game - looking at you, Totem Pokémon) and I won’t have much, if anything, to complain about come next year. I’ll remain optimistic until I have a genuine reason to become pessimistic, but as someone who was born at the peak of Pokémania, I’m just glad we might get some more people on-board for the next year’s games. I don’t think these games were an absolutely necessary stepping stone to draw people in, and I understand the distaste it might leave some fans with, but it’s Pokémon; I’m sure I’ll find some level of enjoyment in it, as I always have done.

Well, I’m in. We didn’t have Mario Kart on the Wii as kids (I know, shame on us), but Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing more than made up for that, and me and my little brother and sister must have sunk hundreds of hours into the game over several summers.

While I’m sure that some resources were taken away from Gen VIII to make these games, I have my doubts that it was anything to the point of detriment. These games look like 3DS ports, or even, as @Dcubed has suggested before, mobile games. I won’t place any bets, but just looking at it, do you know when I think this game - with it being a RBGY reimagining, only having the original 151, etc. - was intended for? 2016. The 20th Anniversary. I have the genuine feeling that this is a shelved product, which has been worked on longer than we thought. I think the plan might have originally been to remake the original games for 3DS using the new engine (or, at the very least, as an in-house tech demo), but I think they shelved that to see how the world reacted to GO first - after all, that originally only catered to the original 151 too - and, more likely, also probably figured out that it would save them a lot of time and money to just put the old games out on Virtual Console. The Pokémon following you, the GO additions, etc., all seem like Pokémon GO pandering, and that’s exactly what it is - GO was a huge success, and so they’ve probably retrofitted a shelved game to make profit from that, or “phase new players to the franchise into the core series”, as I’m sure any PR team would spin it. USUM were made by the younger dev team because the older team probably had so much on their hands, juggling both the Gen VIII games and supposedly working with Niantic and some other devs (it wouldn’t surprise me if Nintendo’s first party teams got in to help on this, at all) on the game. I can understand the hot takes. And I can appreciate the genuine confusion about what this means for the future of the franchise. But do we really think that Game Freak are going to let the future of “real” core series games be inspired by the successes of GO? After they’ve so stubbornly stuck to the original formula for 22 years? I honestly doubt it. I think there’s reason for concern with this game, and whether or not this spin-off series becomes a mainstay for the franchise, but I’m not concerned at all by Gen VIII, and I don’t think that you should be, either. At the very least, just because the same leakers who were so right about LGPE were also adamant that these games would have a mixed/divisive reaction, and that the game/s really worth being excited about are coming next year, in 2019. Chin up, @Glen-i and co. who are worried about the future of the franchise. I think next year’s World Championships will shine a light on whether these really are to be considered core series titles or not.