Julius

So, Mark Hamill tweeted this before deleting it: The question is: did he delete it because he was up to his usual fan-trolling, or because he wasn't supposed to reveal that? in any case, we'll be finding out soon enough: this would mean the trailer is likely to drop on October 9th at roughly 21:00 ET - half-time of Monday Night Football - or 02:00 BST. Confirmation will likely be provided during the weekend as GMA will likely release a teaser to the trailer. In other news, I'm starting to get seriously excited.

From the Direct last week featuring the new UBs (not too keen on their designs to be honest with you guys): The following image of USUM's Alola came a few weeks beforehand and, so someone who's into the lore moreso than the competitive side of battling, it was especially intriguing to see what looks like a familiar formation of dark/purple clouds... Alola in USUM You know, like the ones we saw in DPPt and ORAS when Dialga, Palkia and Giratina showed up? Sinnoh in Platinum Hoenn in ORAS And, finally, a special poster was revealed earlier today. Including what you might ask? First things first: it's a great looking poster. Not too sure how I feel about NPCs having virtually the same outfit designs as SM, but alas, it won't make or break the game. However, what about those shadowy figures obscuring our view of that familiar looking cloud? Upon first viewing, and a lot of zooming in, the one on the left seems to share a lot of similarities with some Pokémon, in the way that it's torso generally falls and it having a pretty weird arm and all. But the left one? Yep...that definitely looks like a person, who's body is facing the left side of the image, and seemingly has their arms crossed and is seemingly wearing a backpack of sorts. Zooming into the facial area shrouded in cloud reveal two faniliar Sugimori-styled eyes. Another look at the left one and that arm still looks dodgy, but a male face seems evident, as well as what looks to be some sort of eyewear, pretty short hair, and what seems to be a beard. Mechanic parts are seemingly evident down the sides of his torso. But, okay, who is it? Well...Lysandre did have a bit of an accident at the end of XY, so that could explain the extremely strange and seemingly cyborg-like design. However, could it also be Cyrus returning from the Distortion World? Well...it's possible. The general aesthetic down the side of the right figure's torso looks extremely familiar to the aesthetic found on many of Team Galactic's costumes, as shown here: But, likewise, the studs on the "female"'s elbows and the buttons on the "male"'s chest area look similar to those found on Aether's costumes: Whatever is going on...colour me intrigued. I'm absolutely ready to dive into this based on the possibilities this poster boasts alone!

Ousmane Dembele is out for 4 months with a thigh injury; I can't help but feel sorry for Barça. Julian Nagelsmann is also being lined up to replace Ancelotti next summer at Bayern after the continuous reports of unsettled players at the club, which I find an extremely intriguing prospect, considering how well he's done with Hoffenheim to date, given the size and financial resources of that team, and of course his age: he just turned 30 a few years back. A lot of talk over in Germany that Bayern are willing to get him at any cost, as they view him as a once-in-a-generation managerial opportunity, and are probably still embarrassed about how they never got Klopp and instead got Klinsmann nearly a decade ago.

My wallet has a bad feeling about this...

Principal photography has been delayed until June of next year, as was expected.

And so it begins... [in 26 minutes]

I'm in agreement that it's a bland choice, and certainly the safest, by a long shot, but right now I think JJ offers the stability Lucasfilm requires right now: he's a director that they already know they can work - and work well - with, and who already knows the ins and outs of writing and directing a Star Wars film. The last few months at Lucasfilm has been turbulent to say the least, so a safe choice - JJ or RJ - was to be expected, but any announcement for Rian taking the helm would have had to wait until after December to make it a smart PR move and would have left it far too right for production to kick off when planned (which currently still stands as early 2018, very likely February or March). I think the biggest weakness of JJ's works to this point has been his reliance on his mystery box philosophy, and with many answers expected in The Last Jedi anyhow, perhaps this will free up some creative opportunities for him, as he isn't laying the groundwork for a trilogy but rather completing it. I think the more worrying news is hat he is co-writing with Oscar winner (Argo) Chris Terrio, who wrote Batman v. Superman as well as the upcoming Justice League movies. Worth noting also that the film has also moved from May to December 2019 (the 20th to be precise), meaning it rounds out the 2019 box office against films such as an untitled live-action Disney movie (likely Mulan), Bond 25, Frozen 2 (all November) and Wonder Woman 2 (December 13th). Perhaps even more interesting is that Deadline are reporting that Rian Johnson turned down the directorial helm of Episode IX.

A developer behind the upcoming Nintendo Switch indie Lichtspeer might have just let it slip that Nintendo are working on an achievements system for the Switch. I think the inclusion of an achievements system would be huge for a home/portable hybrid, and it would certainly give players more incentive to play through games again or push on further. Then again, I personally think it would be better to add achievements to games post-completion so that players enjoy the game at face value the first time around, adding to the replayability of each game. SOURCE: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/6yw24w/we_made_lichtspeer_a_game_about_throwing_laser/

You mean DisneyLife? You're right, that's been around a while now, but in my opinion it never got the marketing push (and exclusive rights to their Star Wars and Marvel films) needed to really push it into the mainstream, which seems to be the plan with the new streaming platform (considering how they seem to be going straight for Netflix as direct competition from the off by pulling their films from there). It'll be interesting to see whether both the Star Wars TV series (Rebels, but perhaps The Clone Wars in particular given Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network's history with the series, and, I'd assume, some form of distribution/licensing rights) make it into the platform too, and it's worth noting that DisneyLife gave access to books and music too. If they continued that trend with just the canon Star Wars content alone - I mean, it'd practically be an archive at that point - from the novels to comics and the music, as well as the movie and TV contributions, Disney could really be into something here, I feel. Do that with Marvel too, such as with the comics, and throw in the PIXAR short films for good measure, and I feel you'd definitely have a platform which could justify a £15/£20 per month package. I'm more of a physical media kind of person myself (not quite sure why to be honest), so they'd have to throw in some decent bonuses (such as those that I hinted at above) to warrant me buying in, considering I already own all of the Star Wars and MCU films on DVD or Blu-Ray as it is :/ If I didn't though, I'd certainly be in. I think any little extras could be what sells me on it

Star Wars and Marvel films are being pulled from Netflix by Disney ahead of their own streaming platform's launch in 2019. This follows the announcement that Disney and Pixar films were being pulled from Netflix last month. Bob Iger, who revealed this information, also said a launch for the Netflix competitor would be aiming for "late 2019", and Disney plan to produce four or five original films, as well as an equal amount of new original series and TV movies. A price for subscription has yet to be announced. Out of interest, would a Disney streaming platform potentially pull any of you away from Netflix, or would you just end up subscribing to both platforms anyhow?

Whilst there was a thematic throughline in the OT, I'd argue that Return of the Jedi's director, Richard Marquand, wasn't the director in anything but title and that it was absolutely George Lucas' film (at least, much more so than The Empire Strikes Back, which Lucas' former mentor at USC, Irvin Kershner, directed) in every sense of the word, and most depictions of Jedi's production supports this. Personally, I don't mind giving nearly everyone in Hollywood a crack at Star Wars, whether an actor/actress, director, producer or BTS guy/girl, because I love Star Wars from an outside perspective, and can't imagine how insanely happy it must make those with an inside perspective to be hired, even if only for one film. Changing the director every film also means that we should avoid a repeat of the critical panning of the prequels for a while. However, I am beginning to worry about the amount of directors being cut from Star Wars projects due to "creative differences" with Lucasfilm, and I'm scared as to why this is happening. Phil Lourd and Chris Miller were fired from the Han Solo project just months ago, and whilst I'd argue that their comedic style would have never suited this character, "creative differences" seems to be a recurring theme, whether it comes to writers or directors. Heck, Trevorrow is the FOURTH directorial casualty since Disney took over (Josh Trank was fired from the standalone film due in 2020 which he was supposed to be directing, which was reportedly a Boba Fett project), meaning that of Disney's original six film plan revealed for 2015 - 2020, half of them have had a change in director. Whilst this is by no means any reason to freak out - it happens all the time in the movie industry, just ask DC - this strange through line seems to be stemming from the same place, so it's worth keeping an eye on. As much as I love the Lucasfilm Story Group, it's the tiniest possible that their involvement could be tarnishing creative freedom when it comes to directors. As for Rian Johnson returning? I'm totally on board. He already has a great rapport with fans because of his actions at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim back in April, signing something for, and talking to, every single fan who queued up overnight for the The Last Jedi panel. He has seemingly fit as a cog into the Lucasfilm machine seamlessly, and with great directorial and writings credentials already (I highly, highly recommend checking out Looper, Brick or The Brothers Bloom before The Last Jedi comes out just in the event you need any more reasons to be extremely excited) and with the backing of Kathleen Kennedy it's almost a no-brainer for him to come in to write and direct IX, not to mention his great relationship with the great late Carrie Fisher means that he is arguably the director in the best position to give her the farewell that she deserves. I've said it plenty of times before, but I am somehow even more excited for VIII than I was for VII simply because of Rian's involvement, and whilst the film will of course share similarities with Empire - this goes without saying at this point - I think we should all be prepared to see what could potentially be a film that could leave a mark on the movie industry just as much as the aforementioned did back in 1980 come this December, not least because this will be Kylo Ren's film just as much as it will be Rey's, and so having Rian Johnson come back after giving them a great platform for growth in VIII would position him best to complete their arcs in IX. I love the idea of him returning to direct the film!

In an interview with Bloomberg (which also shared the hopes left for Pokémon GO and touched upon the future of the franchise as a whole) the CEO of The Pokémon Company International, Tzuneka Ishihara, had the following points to share on the Pokémon game making its way to Switch.

The film had been scheduled for release on May 24th 2019, but that's sort of thrown up in the air by the following paragraphs. Colin Trevorrow had been pinned down to direct, but due to one reason or another - some reports are saying that he's taken several stabs at the script with no luck, whereas others suggest that there have been creative differences between himself and the higher-ups, such as President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy, for months now - he has left the project by mutual consent. Rian Johnson, the director of Episode VIII, due this December, is widely touted as the favourite to become the director of Episode IX, though it wouldn't surprise me if they kept the decision to make him director - if he becomes director - quiet until after Episode VIII's release to likely critical and fan acclaim (and, if this were the case, I think it would then be less likely that there is a delay in filming and, consequently, the film's release). Episode IX is expected to begin shooting early 2018 for a 2019 release.

Leaked a month or so back but EA have finally confirmed real-time transfer and contract negotiations and more in-depth cutscenes interwoven throughout the manager career mode experience (such as a Ballon d'Or presentation for the year's best player or the media unveiling of a marquee signing in the news section of the menu), as well as a new transfer hub. Seeing as this is the main mode for which I've played FIFA over the last few years, I'm happy to finally see some strong features added to the mode.

Square Enix's TGS 2017 line-up has been announced, which includes a Project Octopath Traveller presentation on September 23rd at 09:55 JST. Definitely one I'm excited for, the art style looks great!

The Ultimate Collector's Series Millenium Falcon set, based on the The Empire Strikes Back and the The Force Awakens iterations, which will cost ~$800USD, has just been revealed it will also be coming with 7,541 pieces, making this the largest and most expensive LEGO set to date! And yes, it comes with both satellite dishes I kind of just want it for the extremely clean box design, though.... Available October 1st!

Probably should have fact-checked myself first But yeah, I absolutely agree with you @Fierce_LiNk, and funnily enough my exact thoughts when I heard about Mbappe moving to Paris was that they'd broken the rules. They're getting away with these things on technicalities, which seems very reminiscent to me of Watford (I think?) taking many Udinese players on loan a few years back due to mutual ownership, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see some big rule changes in the years to come concerning the financial side of things in Europe as a result of this transfer window. Weirdly enough, though, I do think PSG's takeover and subsequent spending over nearly a decade now is exactly the kick-start Ligue 1 has needed for quite a while now to have a lasting impact. Great Ligue 1 sides have come and gone since Marseille won the UCL back in 1993, but none of those teams has really stuck around for more than two seasons at a time at the very top of European football. I suppose it could well take a few years to see whether or not this summer turned out to be a good move for French football as a whole but I suppose in the meantime we can enjoy the triumvate of Neymar-Mbappe-Cavani

I respectfully disagree: Monaco won Ligue 1 last season having only been promoted back to Le Premier back in 2012/13, with signings in the coming seasons such as Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Falcao coming as a result of having a Russian ogliarch for an owner, but said owner has recently lowered his investments significantly due to an extremely costly divorce and the club has flourished under the development of new brass. As made clear by last season's championship triumph, Monaco have a very strong team and a great manager in Leonardo Jardim, but there are plenty of other teams which have great potential. Nice - Mario Balotelli's team - finished third last season and have signed Wesley Sneijder this summer and have a good manager in Lucien Favre. Similarly, Lille have a strong manager in Marcelo Bielsa, Marseille - who were bought out last October and have been investing in a new initiative - have Rudy Garcia, Nantes have Sérgio Conceição, and Bordeaux - who have recently changed president to someone committed to keeping their band of young players with great potential together - have Jocelyn Gourvennec. Lyon is also expected to make use of their profits this summer over the next few years having already brought in Memphis Depay and Bertrand Traore this year. Whilst this by no means spells success for the championship in the future, I would argue that, all around, it is a lot stronger than it was some five years ago and has become much more competitive than Serie A at any rate. As for Mbappe's move, whilst I agree that the championship as a whole is weakened by his move, I think it was an obvious step for him to make: he was born in Paris and still has a lot of family in Paris. A move away from Monaco - technically a principality and not even part of France - to his hometown of Paris makes a lot of sense, and the money used to fund his move can only aid in Monaco's growth - one would hope - in the coming years.

And now Lemar wanting to stay at Monaco (to play in the UCL and not the UEL - ouch) makes much more sense: Mbappe has just completed a move to PSG, and it's the most insanely sly workaround of Financial Fair Play I think we'll ever see, with a loan deal for the 2017/2018 season being followed by a compulsory purchase clause at the start of next season set to make him the world's second most expensive player at €180m. I thought their ambition to win the UCL was supposed to be a long-term one? If Mbappe and Neymar can both stay fit and gel, French and European football is about to get a very loud wake-up call.

Very happy to see Renato Sanches given the chance to go out on loan to Swansea and play under Paul Clement; he's got a lot to prove in the build-up to next year's World Cup and, if he can stay fit - and confident - I can see him being a great catalyst in the engine room for them. It's blown my mind these last few years just how many times we've seen top-6 PL players leave for another top-6 team, and increasingly so in the last 18 months, with Matic to United highlighting that. Sanchez to Man City would all but sink Arsenal this season in my eyes and effectively make the title race one with three horses instead of just two if these first few rounds are anything to go by, and the teams supposedly have a verbal agreement for a £60m which Arsenal is only willing to finalise if they can bring in a replacement - which they can't realistically do until Sanchez is sold or a few loans are finalised because of the new Short Term Cost Control rules brought into play this season (meaning that they can only increase their wage bill by £7m from last season). I've been absolutely appalled by CFC's business so far this summer, and don't expect to see much improvement tonight. We need at least another first team quality striker, winger and central midfielder, and one could perhaps argue for another wing back and centre back too. We've known all summer that we were going back into the UCL this term, and I'm confused by Abramovich's decision to not back us in the transfer market this time around, especially given the speech he gave to the team in the dressing room back in 2012 when we unexpectedly won the UCL and he vocalised his desire for it to be the first in a line of triumphs in Europe's greatest club competition. I'd go so far as to argue that this team - on paper - is even weaker than the one with which Mourinho nosedived a couple of seasons ago in terms of sheer numbers and quality, and I can see us having major problems come February/March should we make it to the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

New gameplay trailer. Coming January 23rd 2018.

Square Enix's choice to have the original Secret of Mana on the SNES Classic suddenly makes a lot of sense: it's absolutely a well-timed move to grow the fan base before the release of this remake. I can definitely see Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger receiving similar treatment in the years to come, but it's a shame we don't have a confirmation for it coming to Switch yet.

This sounds absolutely awesome, and the artwork looks great, but it instantly brought Atlus's Project Re Fantasy, another fantasy RPG brought to life by a Japanese studio, to mind. Just found it weird to find out another great JRPG studio was working on a fantasy RPG is all, but this looks great so far, and to announce this project ahead of XC2's release later this year only reaffirms my belief that they're much further along than many believe (in translation, general code clean-up and scoring still is my guess) with that game. Bring it on is all I have to say, I'm all for a fantasy action JRPG coming to Switch!

If this does turn out to be the case - and judging by the images it very well could be, though I've yet to watch the trailer myself (due to sketchy connections whilst on holiday) - then I could certainly foresee many fans, potentially myself included, being upset with TPCI on this occasion. Not only is the story of SM being somewhat retconned with what seems to be an alternative story (outlined in the descriptions and the earlier trailer) in USUM, as opposed to a much more anticipated potential sequel, it could potentially be taking us back to Kanto (and with an alternative story, it's possibly that Lillie doesn't even leave for Kanto in the end), a move which would have made much more sense in SM which were celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the franchise, perhaps especially so considering the circumstances presented at the end of the games, and it's a move which could be seen as a cash grab by many. This is something I've personally been screaming for since we found out about Sun and Moon last February - in my opinion, as I mentioned before, it made a lot of sense to revisit the region given it was an anniversary year for the franchise, and the Gen I rereleases, I argued, only played into a potential return, making us familiar once again with the region in its classic form before a potential return some 10+ in-universe years later - and something I know that many more seasoned fans than myself have argued against the logic of, considering the limitations of the 3DS (and perhaps this makes even less sense considering some performance issues with SM). The truth is, this potential news has totally got me back on board, but it annoys and confuses me to no end that, if a return to Kanto is indeed in the cards, this will be the only real "pull" for me to play USUM. An alternative to the subjectively great story and characters of the objectively well-critiqued SM didn't grab my interest at all, to the point where I was planning on skipping these games entirely, but now that a return to Kanto could be on the cards? It will be interesting to see how much more Kanto we potentially see in marketing for the games leading up to November, but I feel this potential news would have landed much better had these games been sequels.

https://mobile.twitter.com/LEGO_Group/status/897489066425552901 Starkiller Base or Snoke's mobile command centre, that will probably feature in The Last Jedi (and as thus be a great tie-in) and was hinted at during the TFA build-up and cooldown, perhaps? The inclusion of D'Qar's ring is an intriguing one, for sure... The promise of the largest LEGO Star Wars set ever is a pretty huge one: the Ultimate Collector's Series Millenium Falcon bricks in at 5195 pieces (with the infamous Death Star sets at merely 3000+). Whatever it is, i can't wait - it's been a while since I've bought some LEGO, so it seems like a set to keep an eye on!