Julius

I didn’t play Smash Bros. for Wii U, and only dabbled with for 3DS, so I had to do some fun research on trophies, returning characters, etc., from the last game, to put my list together. As a result, I don’t think any of these are too outlandish after cutting out the Chosen Undead from Dark Souls. The Challengers 1. Ice Climbers (Ice Climber) No technical limitations this time around, so they seem a surefire bet to make their return. 2. Wolf (Star Fox) I was surprised to learn that Wolf wasn’t in Smash 4, so I expect him to make his return this time around. 3. Lyn (Fire Emblem) Probably one of - if not the - most popular Fire Emblem character to not be playable in a Smash game, I’ll be genuinely surprised if Lyn doesn’t step up to the mark this time around. Especially seeing as we’re probably going to be losing some other FE characters from 4... 4. Decidueye (Pokémon) I agree with everyone else’s reasoning here: Decidueye is probably the most popular Gen VII final starter evolution, and would compliment Greninja’s and Charizard’s likely returns nicely. 5. Rex (Xenoblade) Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is selling extremely well...if we needed any other reason to include Rex in this game. I wasn’t too sure how Pyra could be included (I don’t think a Rosalina/Luma situation would work in the same way) beyond Rex’s Final Smash, so I’ve left her out. 6. Spring Man (ARMS) The most prominent character in the game’s marketing and at the forefront of the game’s cover art, I’ll be surprised if Spring Man didn’t make it in over other ARMS characters. I think he’s pretty much a surefire thing, but I agree with @Jonnas that Twintelle is likely to pop up to (in the event that they add characters beyond Spring Man). 7. Waluigi (Mario) It’s time. It’s always been time. Do it Sakurai. 8. Captain Toad (Captain Toad) The game got a love on Wii U, and will be getting a lot of love on the 3DS and Switch this summer, and he featured in Super Mario Odyssey (in case you didn’t learn that from the Nintendo Direct... ), so I think Captain Toad is on a steady rise. Many are saying that he doesn’t jump, but I’m sure Sakurai could find a workaround to that; if not, just let him jump. Link’s only jumped in two of his many appearances in the Zelda games, so... 9. Fire Emblem Switch protagonist (Fire Emblem) Super Fire Emblem Bros. 10. Dillon (Dillon’s Rolling Western) I’ve got to be honest: I’d never heard of this character prior to the Direct the other week. As some have pointed out here, he has a suspiciously detailed trophy in 4, and he seems to be a character that Nintendo is hoping to make into a mainstay, so I don’t see why he couldn’t turn up this time around. 11. Shovel Knight (Shovel Knight) If there’s going to be any indie presence - which there should be, considering how important indies been to Switch so far - there is no indie character more likely (or deserving) of being included than Shovel Knight. Still, kind of want to see the Snipperclips duo... 12. Professor Layton (Professor Layton) He fences. If Fire Emblem’s presence in Smash over the years has taught me anything, it’s that having a sword increase the likelihood of you appearing tenfold. But on a serious note, this is a character synonymous with Nintendo’s handhelds of the last two generations, and I think he’s deserving of an inclusion. I also don’t want that Yokai Watch kid turning up, so I’m sure Level 5 wouldn’t push that little runt too hard if Sakurai asked for Layton. 13. Bomberman (Bomberman) Classic 80’s character who is extremely well known when considering the franchise’s relatively low sales volume, I think Super Bomberman R’s success is the final entry on a long list of reasons as to why Bomberman should be included. Number one is clearly that Konami will have to do next-to-nothing, and number two is that he’s not Snake, so yeah...it’s happening, I guess. Thought of including Frogger, too, but I think one is enough from Konami, and I’ve never played Frogger and don’t think it’s that well known when compared to Bomberman. 14. Banjo & Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie) Never played Banjo-Kazooie or any other game in the franchise, but Xbox has been playing nice with Nintendo when it comes to cross-platform online, and we know Phil Spencer wants him in. Would be the perfect play before/with a Banjo-Kazooie game announcement in the next year or two, which seems kind of likely, considering how Sea of Thieves is being received. Also been considered for past Smash games, so I think it’s time. 15. Rayman (Rayman) I know his franchise is responsible for the Rabbids, but I don’t want them to be in the game, so I’ll take Rayman. Ubisoft has been on Nintendo’s side through some tough times, and it was great to see Yves and Miyamoto on stage together at E3 last year, so if anything I think his inclusion could just be a thank you from Nintendo for Ubisoft’s support. 16. Steve (Minecraft) Second highest selling game of all time, and killing it over in Japan at the moment, I think we could see Steve make his way to Smash, again, because of how nicely Xbox has been playing with Nintendo as of late. I’m seeing a lot of people say that building would have to be a huge part of his moveset so he’s unlikely to make it in, but I disagree with the notion that this is enough of a reason to not include him. I mean, did Pokémon Trainer even once throw a Poké Ball at an opponent in Brawl? 17. Noctis (Final Fantasy) I don’t think that Cloud is returning, and my list is lacking an oddball third party, realistically appearing human choice. Again, I thought about the Chosen Undead (the protagonist of the first Dark Souls), but I don’t think that’s super likely (the connection of Namco publishing those games and having worked on Smash 4 being the only reasoning that I could think of, which I think is a relatively weak line of argument for the character’s inclusion). Square Enix has been supporting Nintendo a lot too, and they’re seemingly positioning Noctis to be a well known character synonymous with the Final Fantasy brand just as Cloud before him (he’s already appeared in Tekken 7, and you can bet he’s going to make an appearance in Kingdom Hearts 3 later this year), so I think that if anyone is going to be appearing to represent Square Enix, it would be him. The Stages (Tiebreaker) 1. The Odyssey — travel through the many worlds of Super Mario Odyssey aboard The Odyssey. 2. Hyrule (Vah Ruta) — travel through the land of Hyrule atop the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. 3. Tetris — avoid being crushed by oncoming tetras as you fight your way up the stack, with completed rows vanishing and altering the stage’s layout.

Two spots with some new footage of Infinity War from this weekend’s Halo Tournament (timestamped). Love the first one’s use of a singer for a chilling take on then Avengers theme, and the second one for Tony’s interaction with Peter. Not long to go now Also, probably worth mentioning that Black Panther has passed the first Avengers to become the highest grossing MCU movie in America, and, by the end of this weekend, should be the third highest grossing comic book movie to date worldwide (behind Avengers and Age of Ultron). I don’t think anyone saw that coming...

On the one hand, it is a shame that they can’t yet commit to a release window. But, on the other hand, I agree with @Dcubed: it’s awesome that they’re going to be supporting 10 languages, which is a pretty big undertaking, but one that seems worth taking if they’re still going to be ironing stuff out in the coming months anyway. My hope would be that it’s out no later than the end of June, because the Switch version has been in the oven for quite some time now. Any later than E3 and I can imagine that some might just turn to the PC version of the game.

Nintendo’s E3 2018 site is up, and it’s just as sleek as it was last year.

During CD Projekt’s fiscal year 2017 financial presentation, President Adam Kiciński mentioned that he’d “terribly” like to say something about Cyberpunk 2077, but today is not the time. When asked when we’ll know more, Kiciński commented that he can’t just announce the announcement. Pressed further on what will be showcased at E3, he mentioned that it will be announced “just before” the show. An analysis firm recently suggested that the game could be a cross-generation project involving the next round of PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Asked to comment on this, Kiciński explained that the next generation has not been announced yet, so he can only speculate. Technologically-wise Cyberpunk 2077 is “very advanced.” The studio’s tech is “ready to interface with future generations.” The game is developed in such a way that it can take advantage “of future, very powerful” hardware. Kiciński confirmed that it’ll be possible to create your character and choose among various classes. This pretty much denies a wild rumor that was spread on youtube a few months ago, alleging that the studio had moved to a different design with no classes. Asked whether there will be multiplayer, he confirmed that first of all, the studio is going to deliver a huge story-drive single-player role-playing game as it was the case for The Witcher 3. As for the possibility of adding multiplayer in expansions, he mentioned that he does not like to comment on that, but he won’t say that it’s not going to happen, as the developer already mentioned in the past that they want future projects to include online components at some point. Asked whether the developer is considering the Battle Royale genre for Cyberpunk 2077, Kiciński explained that at the moment they’re considering everything and anything but as of today they’re not discussing the game yet. The first thing they’re actually going to discuss is the immense story-driven role-playing single player experience without any microtransactions whatsoever, or any hidden payments, just as it was the case for The Witcher 3, even if it’s going to be a very different game, with no predefined character, a futuristic world, and 3D movement. Key points: • CDPR will reveal their E3 2018 plans shortly before the conference. • Cyberpunk 2077 is extremely advanced. • Character creation is available, and we will be able to choose among various classes. I can almost smell Cyberpunk 2077 in the oncoming E3 air.

A custom, Wolfenstein II-inspired Switch is going to be given away by Bethesda. And it looks pretty sleek. Details on the giveaway.

A formal invitation to... ...GET HYPED. 34/35 DAYS (depending on where you’ll be in the world come release) AND COUNTING! How would you rank the MCU films to date? And do you expect Infinity War to crush a box office record or two?

I’m really excited for what this game could entail, not just as a playable game (though it admittedly looks like a lot of fun), but as a tool for potential future game designers and developers to get creative and put themselves out there. I’d want to support it for that reason alone, and I’m definitely getting some good vibes from the whole Dreams concept because of this.

They already have Source: “...We haven’t yet put in the facial expressions. Until a month ago, we had put in the facial animations, but for the moment, they’ve been removed.”

CD Projekt Red have opened a third studio in Wroclaw to aid in the development of Cyberpunk 2077; the studio is comprised of 18 veteran game developers, many of whom are former members of Wroclaw-based developer Strange New Things (which was founded by former Techland and IO Interactive developers). Pawel Zawodny, Head of CD Projekt Red Wroclaw, had this to say: CD Projekt President and Joint CEO Adam Kicinski added: Elsewhere, CDPR has also been confirmed to be attending Gamescom this August, and Gwent’s Community Specialist has recently stated in an AMA that there will be no Thronebreaker at E3, which is yet another strong hint that Cyberpunk 2077 will be present this June.

Hellz yeah

The first episode of Kyle Bosman's (of EZA) paper-animated series, Box Peek, is up. It's only a preview episode, so it will be a while before the rest of the series is up, but it's awesome

Kiwami 2 is coming to the West on August 28th!

I think it’s definitely going to be great for the neutrals. We saw it earlier this season and quite a lot in their prior meetings, but Klopp is about as close to Pep’s kryptonite as I can think of at this stage of his career. As for Salah breaking the record, I honestly can’t think of a reason against him breaking it. He’s been in peak form almost all season, and only needs a hat trick of goals to equal the record — with seven games to potentially score them in (probably less considering the likelihood of being rested for UCL matches), I’d honestly put my money on him doing it. It’s insane the near-instant chemistry that he’s had with Firmino and Mané since arriving last summer, which just makes the potential record-breaking that much more eye-opening. If Kane weren’t injured, I’d actually go so far as suggesting that both of them could break it. On a different note but sort of on the same topic, as a Chelsea fan, watching us play in the Prem has only been getting more and more frustrating recently. Conte is very clearly an excellent tactician and a great man-to-man manager, but he just isn’t backed up in the transfer market to allow his desired formation to flourish. Matters are only made worse when I see players like Lukaku, De Bruyne, Salah and Matic enjoying themselves and performing well on a consistent basis at rival clubs. It’s just crushing.

Awesome. I have to imagine a demo on the Switch wouldn’t leave too many pieces lying around either, then! Well, that sucks. I’m guessing that that was by someone working in the game? In which case, I have to imagine they got demoted/fired/moved to another project...

Yeah...the main series Pokémon game demos on eShop (ORAS and SM only, iirc?) were also guilty of containing far more than they needed to and being relatively easy to get into (for dataminers, at least). I really hope they stay quiet on the demo front with the new Pokémon games for Switch, because it’s a seriously odd genre of game to put a demo out for in the first place, besides the fact that it leads to leaked story elements and previously unrevealed Pokémon. I think the reason that they’re having such a big problem with demos isn’t because they’re easy to get into, but because the developers of the demo — and I hate to say this — are being pretty lazy about the actual contents of the demo. The ORAS and SM demos, for example, were created using large amounts of game assets pretty much just copy and pasted from the actual games, with entire locations in the demo present exactly as they are in the game, as well as multiple Pokémon models and items that weren’t present in the demo themselves present in the demo’s code. Ideally, it shouldn’t be the case that the demo is just a pared back version of the game; I think the demo should be screened for required code prior to the movement of assets (i.e. in the case of the Pokémon demos I mentioned above, only Pokémon, items and locations in the demo should be imported from the actual game) so that code is kept at a minimum, and only the bare necessities are included in the final version of the demo. I didn’t play Smash for 3DS/Wii U or keep up with the news on them, so I’ll have to look up whether those demos were datamined as extensively as some other Nintendo games, but I do recall reading that Sakurai is fairly secretive about the Smash games, and that he was left frustrated when Brawl’s cutscenes were leaked online. If that’s anything to go by, I think the demo’s in safe hands, when compared to some their first-party demos from Nintendo.

I think that’s a great idea, @Glen-i! Nintendo has been doing reeeeeally well with implementing demos/online tests/tournaments/etc. for the Switch, and whilst Smash doesn’t necessarily need one, I think that it would just be a great tool for Nintendo to use as a PR and hype-building move. On a completely different note, what are everyone’s opinions on the effect that the Smash reveal could have on the Switch community’s/Nintendo fan base’s expectations going into E3? Does it make easier or harder for Nintendo to navigate the waves of fan expectation?

Considering that those games were already revealed prior to the E3 at which they they were the centrepiece, and that we’re not expecting any other major announcements from Ninty (and their subsidiaries) until E3, I think Super Smash Bros. is the most likely game to be at the centre of attention this time around. It’s also a much easier game to hop in and out of on the show floor/in a booth than either a new Pokémon or Animal Crossing entry would be. I also expect a Mario Tennis Aces tournament at E3 this year, considering that they held an ARMS one last year (a few days before its release).

Delayed until 2019.

Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be getting the PS5 for a while yet, simply because of how much Guerrilla and Bluepoint managed to squeeze out of the PS4 with Horizon Zero Dawn and Shadow of the Colossus, respectively. I’m actually not too sure about 2020 as a release year for PS5, though. If the PS4 loses sales momentum and drops off for a while, then putting the PS5 out around then would seem a good idea, and it depends almost entirely on if the consumer base wants - and is ready for - the next and new PlayStation Console. However, if the PS4 continues to sell well, and more and more developers continue to squeeze out what they can from the base model - and then the Pro - I think we could end up actually waiting until the 2021-2023 window for a PS5 release, as console life cycles should, theoretically, only be getting longer from a technological standpoint (not accounting for consumer interest). This is because the visual fidelity of games is already nearing a threshold, and the reason why we’ve been seeing diminishing returns from the visuals of games is because there’s a limit to what the human eye can detect, and also because the observation that the number of of transistors in an integrated circuits doubles over a relatively short period of time (1-2 years; i.e. Moore’s Law) has already been seeing diminishing processing returns since the early 2000s (see below). As the video game industry has been effectively catching up to modern technologies since its inception, and with the end of Moore’s Law nearing (i.e. the point at which we can no longer produce smaller transistors), as well as video game developers having effectively caught up to produce optimal visual results from current systems (be that console or PC), the introduction of new and faster processors with future systems won’t have as much of an impact as it might have before, which means that the industry will have to look elsewhere to continue getting the most out of the modern system. I think this is very likely to be related to more sophisticated AI integration into video gaming (for more efficient asset creation, game rendering, etc.), but, as it takes exponentially longer to produce a sophisticated AI for a video game than it would to simply slip in a new processor, I can see that pushing the next console generation back a fair bit if we are to see more technological leaps made within the industry in the next decade or so with the next set of consoles. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’re at a bit of a tipping point in terms of technological evolution in general, so I think it will definitely be interesting to see which direction PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo — and any other potential console manufacturer — takes next.