Julius

Four new images of the game were shared at MAGIC 2018. It’s definitely looking better and better with each new look that we get of the game! Also, might I suggest to the moderators that this thread be moved over to ‘Other Consoles’? Every time I come to update it, I always end up looking around for five minutes over there before I remember that it’s over in ‘General Gaming Discussion’. Just a friendly suggestion

Honestly forgot that World of Final Fantasy was a thing... That's an excellent suggestion, @Hero-of-Time. If I recall correctly, it sold extremely poorly (at least by Final Fantasy-designed-for-a-handheld standards), so that would be a very smart move for S-E to make. You should shoot them an email

Absolutely. The only downside I potentially see with bringing FF to Switch - at least to Switch owners and FF fans - is that S-E would be unlikely to bring a brand new entry into the core, roman numeral series, simply because they've shown that they want those games to exist on the most technologically advanced consoles on the market (I know this isn't what you were necessarily suggesting, H-o-T). Personally, I'd be just fine seeing VI and the earlier entries coming over with whatever Nintendo is doing in terms of Virtual Console. I could totally see something like Final Fantasy Tactics get a new series entry come to the Switch. On another note, though, perhaps Project Octopath Traveller is in fact a Final Fantasy spin-off game? I'd much rather it be a new IP (because it's visually very unique, and a style I'd love to see further evolved, or perhaps used in some potential remakes of other excellent S-E JRPGs seen on Nintendo consoles in years past...), but a simple name change to something like Final Fantasy: Octopath Traveller or Final Fantasy: The Paths of Eight would naturally garner much more attention than a brand new IP would.

Easy Allies Podcast #100 L&R

The game has gone gold. Also, here’s a pretty great PlayStation Blog post, which goes behind the scenes of the game.

Some pretty cool posters are going up on the Japanese store, for anyone that’s interested.

Nintendo seems to be implementing customer reviews on the eShop, with players required to have played the game for a minimum of 2 hours of a game to be allowed to review it. Example: the page for Dragon Quest Builders On a pretty big side note, Ninty also took home most of the awards at the DICE Awards. • GOTY: Breath of the Wild • Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: Mario Odyssey • Adventure GOTY: Breath of the Wild • Family GOTY: Snipperclips • Racing GOTY: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe • Strategy/Simulation GOTY: Mario + Rabbids • D.I.C.E. Sprite Award: Snipperclips • Handheld GOTY: Metroid Samus Returns • Mobile GOTY: Fire Emblem Heroes • Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: Breath of the Wild • Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Breath of the Wild • Game of the Year: Breath of the Wild Genyo Takeda was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

UPDATE: the script for Episode IX is complete; principal photography will begin in July.

Ivy and Zasalamel will return in Soul Calibur VI.

No surprises here: the next Battlefield title will be playable at this year’s EA Play. If I recall correctly, Battlefield 1 was announced in May, but from a quick look around it seems that prior Battlefield games were announced in March, so we could be hearing something about it very soon. I’m very curious to see which direction they decide to take with regards to DLC/seasons/MTX (microtransactions)/etc. for the game after Battlefront II’s lambasting.

Publisher Aksys Games has announced a new title from the creator of Harvest Moon, Yasuhiro Wada. The game is called Little Dragons Café. The story follows a twin brother and sister who run a café. One day, their mother falls into a deep sleep, and the only way to wake her up is to raise a dragon. While managing three other employees, players have to learn to run the business and breed their scaled companion. As the story progresses, players can expand their café by learning new recipes, exploring the terrain for ingredients, growing and catching food, and helping their neighbors. Akibo Shieh, founder and CEO of Aksys Games and a good friend of Wada's, says the game has been in development for two years, though the two have talked about teaming up for a new title for five years. Little Dragons Café is slated for a late summer 2018 release on Switch (and PS4).

Oh dear, ignore me. I was just reading about the Uncharted movie and how Neil Druckmann is going to find it strange that Nolan North won’t be starring as Nathan Drake; must have got my wires crossed. Amended my original comment

I think we can quite easily get a Super Mario and Zelda title out of the way for each of Ninty’s home consoles from that period, for starters NES: Super Mario Bros. 3; The Legend of Zelda SNES: Super Mario World; The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past N64: Super Mario 64; The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time GC: Super Mario Sunshine; The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker And, for handhelds, I think Pokémon titles take it for the Game Boy, Game Boy Colour and Game Boy Advance: Red/Blue/Yellow, Gold/Silver/Crystal, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.

Sony has launched My PlayStation, a new browser version of your PSN profile for use on desktops, tablets and smart devices. IGN also has some news from DICE: Naughty Dog might make a non-third person game after TLOU2.

Nolan North (whoops) Troy Baker confirmed to be working on the game.

Aaaaaaaand... ...it’s up. Woo shadow drop.

Looks like Balloon World is dropping on Friday in Australia (so potentially tomorrow afternoon here).

Nope, never played any of them, but I've heard quite a lot about them and their soundtracks. I've got a very long back log of "greats" to plough my way through, ranging from some lengthy JRPGs about Japanese schoolkids to short immersive first-person experiences about a family curse. This definitely seems like the sort of game that I'll just be able to pick up when I'm not in the mood for starting up a new game or chipping away at some monstrous level grind or open world adventure, and most importantly, just have some fun with. Added to my "Just For Fun" list

Well, that was fun while it lasted. RIP Platyblue. (Definitely my favourite fan design)

Not sure if I'm buying this "confirmation" as one of her leaks/something she's heard, or rather just some educated guessing. Because it really just sounds like an educated guess, and a pretty safe one at that.

I agree. I think that the campaign is extremely barebones - and a bit VERY boring, honestly - but the core multiplayer experience is actually very enjoyable for the most part. Starfighter Assault could very easily be its own game, but the game does begin to feel extremely repetitive if you spend too long on a certain mode. Bringing command posts back is probably at the top of my wish list for Battlefront III, regardless of whether its EA making it. However, one major problem that I had with my core experience - having knowledge of the scandal - was when I got killed by someone else and saw their cards. Instead of feeling humbled and fairly executed, almost any time that I saw someone with cards better than mine, my initial reaction was to blame my in-game death on their cards as opposed to their ability. Did they spend money on the game? Are they just luckier than me? Perhaps its just me, but it provides something of a distastefully bitter experience with people that you are supposed to be enjoying your time playing a game with. I look forward to seeing how their recently announced major update overhauls the current system. I don't think that I'm necessarily tired of Star Wars, but I must admit that I'm feeling a little bit fatigued. I've taken a break from reading the books since TLJ, and though I'm still enjoying Rebels, which only has a few episodes left, it just isn't holding my interest as much right now. I wasn't that interested in SOLO anyways, but that trailer just seemed poorly constructed and didn't get me hyped at all, so I think the 18 month gap that Disney engineered between SOLO and IX couldn't have been better designed.

Very true. If I recall correctly, it was the Chinese localisation team (or someone related to them) that leaked the final starter evolutions of SM, and they also leaked Team Rainbow Rocket for USUM, so if we do end up with a real leak again...it's probably going to be from that area of the development again. So, if these are real (and I think I'm just trying to temper my expectations a bit, because I really do adore that platypus design) and are further along in the design process than the final starter evolutions of Alola, it could potentially point to the game being pretty far along too. Maybe not in time to release this year, but starter evolutions and legendary Pokémon are, I imagine, the designs that they attempt to have finalised first, because they're normally what are tied to a game's reveal. I would like to imagine that development started pretty early when compared to other main series games (XY was in development since BW, iirc), if nothing else because of the upgrade in hardware from the 3DS to the Switch for Game Freak. I love the idea of NZ being a post-game region for an Australian region, and I think that Australia has an extraordinary array of wildlife and sealife for them to take advantage of. Regional variants could also be appropriate to return here like with Alola (Seviper, Joltik, Galvantula, Ekans, Arbok and Kangaskhan specifically come to mind). Honestly, i hope that they don't show off nearly as much as they did with the lead-up to SM. I think that this is one of those cases where the games might be better suited to an E3 reveal than to a Pokémon Direct, because of how successful the Switch has been so far and how big a brand Pokémon is. I'd love to see an E3 reveal with the titles, box art legendary and starter Pokémon, and then throw out there what they see as necessary if the E3 reveal hadn't already (version exclusives, some regional variants, the return of gyms or trials, etc.). I feel like they showed off way too much of the main story and cutscenes with SM marketing, way too many snippets throughout the game, and waaaaaaay too many of the Pokémon. I think that they'd be best off creating trailers and marketing around aspects that didn't spoil the core aspects of the main game, becayse they honestly don't need to: the Switch main series Pokémon games have the potential to be the first main series games to pass the 20 million units sold mark (something SM might have got closer to if not for USUM) since Gold & Silver, so I hope they don't blow their metaphorical load in the marketing campaign and ruin the sense of true discovery for the fans. Release it that November - you've got a five month window there which is more than enough to correctly market this game. Oh, and maybe don't have a demo this time around. Those never work out well for the up-to-that-point unannounced parts of Game Freak's hard work.

Saw these last night, and I have to agree on the bunny and platypus. If these are fake, those are some excellent pieces of fan art all the same. Not such a fan of the lemur (/monkey?) though... However, I don’t think these are real. I’d love for them to be - man, I want a platypus Pokémon so very bad now - but, at least personally, the artwork looks waaaaaaay too defined and complete when compared to the leak of the final evolution of the Alolan starter Pokémon a couple of years ago. It just looks a bit too neatly organised and doesn’t feel as cluttered as that concept art did, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Speaking of a platypus Pokémon, though, where would everyone like to see them find inspiration for their next region? Spain and Italy have been heavily rumoured for some time now, which I think would be great, but I also have Australia, China, and a return to Japan on my wish list just hope they’re a little more abstract when it comes to utilising their inspiration/s this time around. Kalos and Alola didn’t feel very fictional when compared to some of the other regions, at least to me, because it feels like they just kept the already existing landmarks of France and Hawaii and traced routes all over their existing respective maps. I’d live to see a little more abstraction this time around, like with Unova.

PS4, XBO, and on PC later on (via EA Origin).