Julius

oh I'm so happy I bought but didn't play those earlier Switch ports we go right now

WHAT?! Horii the biggest industry insider confirmed?

the music is still going oml no way

oh this looks wonderful 14th November?!?! Ahhhhhh THE YEAR OF THE JRPG

Hey hey we're the monkeys

DQ LET'S FREAKING GOOOOOOOOOOO

NO! JAN 2025?!

EXCUSE ME?!?!

A Sakaguchi and Uematsu joint. Formerly stuck on Apple Arcade -- but no more! And to top it all off, it's not only coming to Switch – but also PS4/5, Xbox Series X|S and PC!

IT LIVES! Mario RPG fans be eating real good on the Switch

my final plea before this Direct GIVE ME CHRONO TRIGGER OR GIVE ME DEATH Nintendo/Square Enix:

I feel like I can make just as strong a case for this being the next mainline Mario, a super late Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, a Wii Sports port or a Wind Waker/Twilight Princess collection. There's no hype and chaos quite like Nintendo Direct hype and chaos

So...turns out I jumped the gun and didn't watch the final cutscene of Chapter 4 to round it off last night but what a beautiful chapter and game-ending (kinda) cutscene this game felt like a pretty great example of less is more -- knowing it was originally built for PSP had my expectations in check but the cutscenes, music, and emotion that I touched on before combined with the simple but effective level design which feels like a reasonable crossover between MGS and MGS3 made for a great time. Anyways, I thought there'd be a fifth chapter because it felt like things hadn't been properly rounded off...and hey, at the end of the credits, turns out there is! Between Huey getting on my ass about ZEKE Dev and Zadornov going missing after replaying a couple of missions but nothing else triggering, I did something I wasn't really a fan of -- and had to look up if there was any weirdness to unlocking the missions in Chapter 5. And, oh boy, is there. S-ranked Chrysalis to get the railgun drop and then S-ranked Pupa to get the final head part I needed to complete ZEKE; reshuffled staff to get Intel Team to Lv 40, I think my Mother Base is at Rank 3 also; replaying some missions or just doing the Prisoner-freeing Extra Ops to build towards the next Zadornov escapade. So...I get it. This was originally a portable game, the idea of a bit of a grind for the final chapter makes sense with that in mind, but for the HD home platform remaster on PS3, I do feel like they could've done a little more to push you in the right direction during the main game and clue you in a bit more on what you need to have done, because things like needing to complete X number of missions with Intel at Level 40 to finish building a second plant at Mother Base are just a little too nebulous that I struggle to see how you'd get there with out either (a) doing EVERYTHING the game has to offer and praying that auto-assign lands enough staff in Intel to get to Level 40, or (b) look it up online; and, again, I think the former was kind of understandable for the original PSP release, but maybe not so much for the HD Collection. I think it's just a bit of a disconnect when they blast out 'To be continued in Chapter 5' at the end of the game's credits, like "You've been doing these SUPER SPECIFIC THINGS WE NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT THIS ENTIRE TIME to unlock this fifth, secret - but clearly not-so-secret because we told you about it at the end of the credits - final chapter, RIGHT???" without you having any reason to have done some of those super specific things. For instance, I had all the necessary staff -- I just didn't know I was supposed to be putting them into Intel to power level it to Level 40 because the game gives you an Auto-Assign option. So strange! It's probably the biggest blemish on the game for me so far. I had thought briefly about giving it a pass and looking up the final cutscene/s online in case it got detrimental to my experience, but I've enjoyed the game enough to give it a fair shake at seeing it through and unlocking whatever this ending is myself

Really poor form from the refs to not allow the subs to come on when the ball next went out with Mbappé off the pitch with his nose in terrible shape -- potentially broken? Big brain thinking to walk back on the pitch then sit down due to the injury to force the ref to stop the game and allow the subs on. Picked up a yellow but shouldn't have been carried on without the subs in the first place.

Did I mention before that I hate Lee Dixon as a commentator? Baumgartner had every right to go for the ball with Maignan coming in, and he got the ball first, but he could've easily studded the keeper in the face. If that was another player it's 50/50 because it's feet and legs sliding in, but when chest and head are exposed to boots like that? It's only going one way. So yes, that's a yellow card, Lee Dixon -- you twit.

Absolutely absurd call from the ref in Austria vs France to not give a corner to Austria after a terrific save from Maignan, which was obvious as all hell for all to see. Then France score from an OG in the next attack. Ridiculous. I've said it before but this is my problem area with the game these days which should be on par with the messy handling of VAR and should be semi-automated as offsides are becoming, because the ripple effects of not giving a deserved set piece can't be overstated, especially in a tournament setting like this.

Nintendo actually haven't given us much of a heads up for June Directs since bowing out of having official 'E3' Directs following their E3 2021 Direct (which they told us about on the 2nd and aired on the 15th); the Direct Mini of June 2022 and last year's June Direct were both announced just a day ahead of time! Silksong is going to be an interesting one, I think. I didn't expect it at Indie World a few months ago and thought this made the most sense as a next potential place to feature over Xbox or SGF, purely down to the viewing numbers, but if we see it tomorrow, like I said back in April, I'll be floored if it's shadow dropped like Hollow Knight was. Shadow-dropping a few days out from Shadow of the Erdtree just seems like a great way to completely bury yourself - don't get me wrong, Hollow Knight is huge but there are few games I think could take on Elden Ring, and one made by a small team of indie devs is not one of them simply because that seems like a very risky way to release your work - so even if the game would likely still sell and do great, I don't think they should do that to themselves. Re-emergence tomorrow and then maybe a demo shadow-drop, though, with a potential release date or window announced? I think that would be realistic. If it's not there tomorrow then I guess TGAs in December is it's final bet (unless Nintendo gets real weird with it and somehow have it attached to the Switch 2 hype cycle?), and a December shadow drop would kill its odds in GOTY conversations, so Pretty much where I'm at to in all honesty PlayStation last month I thought was poor outside of Astro Bot, SGF was fine (and Geoff was sensible to lower expectations ahead of time), Xbox had a good if not great show as always but are so heavily reliant on games you'll be able to play elsewhere, and their first party stuff just never speaks to me -- I think people throwing around "greatest conference ever" for that Xbox showing are completely full of it and forgot what a great show looks like it Nintendo have run away with the last few Junes imo, they always turn up, and it feels like there's less pressure on this one because of the Switch 2 seemingly not being so far out now from being announced and shown off. Would love a couple more Wii U ports (Wind Waker/Twilight Princess? Xenoblade Chronicles X?), there's been the potential for the next Fire Emblem remake for what feels like forever, and I think some other remasters could help fill out the schedule too (Donkey Kong Country Returns deserves a third release damn it!). Then there's a whole host of smaller Nintendo IP they could surprise us with, like a Rhythm Heaven game, and with Luigi's Mansion 2 HD just around the corner...where the hell is that Switch remaster of the first game?! Maybe it's being kept for Switch 2, but still That's not even to mention third-party. Give me Chrono Trigger or some Dragon Quest remasters already, Square! Big question for me is how they handle Prime 4. If that game is going to be positioned as the Switch 2 launch game as we all feel it is being (even if it will also be available on the original Switch), does it turn up here with a '2025' release window? Or do they hold it back and tie that hype cycle to the marketing cycle of the Switch 2 whenever that starts up? Very curious to see if and how they handle that.

Here we go! 40 minutes, focus on the second half of the year and no mention of the Switch successor. Let the hype flow

Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree are now apparently out in the wild: Crazy that this has happened for digital DLC, guess it's a reviewer gone rogue yet again shocking just how often it happens these days

Chapter 4 was a bit more of a mixed bag gameplay wise I found, turning into a bit of a shooting gallery, for lack of a better term. Very jarring to be told to infiltrate an area in some of the mission briefings and then almost inevitably find myself in a shootout, so I needed to restart two of the missions just to have the right gear equipped the second Peace Walker fight I thought was great, but took a couple of attempts -- didn't really know how to manage it the first time around and so had the wrong equipment, got it down to one bar of health before running out of ammo on the second round, before finally taking it out on my third attempt, but this all took a while considering just how long the boss fight is. This all being said, the sudden fight with the Hind and troops backed by... ...or the second Peace Walker fight backed by... ...or the flashback moments with, and present day hints of, The Boss backed by a piano instrumental of Snake Eater, especially when pulling out the memory boards... Just beautiful. Peak Metal Gear. Despite the pared down gameplay in Peace Walker, the ideas, themes, hype, and emotion of the series shines through brilliantly. Struggling to see how the game could possibly go beyond a 5th chapter based on where the 4th ended, but I'm having an absolute blast Also, Naked/Big Boss >>>>> Solid, don't @ me

Ended up a bit too busy to give the England match my full undivided attention, and so had it on in the background. Kind of glad I got busy, to be honest. Lowest scoring game and win of the tournament so far, I guess we'll be singing about that for a good while to come? A lot of missed opportunities it felt like. Plenty of opportunities to improve.

Damn, Chapter 3 was suuuuuuuper heavy on the MGS(1) callbacks, I think all we were missing was some ketchup. Loved it

Solid win for Italy, but they really should have scored more. Not quite matching the statement wins of Germany and Spain there, but the intent is there for all to see. Excellent from Albania, they play like that in their two other games and they're in with a real shout of sneaking into the knockouts. They seem organised and composed for the relative limited quality of their team, and a great goalkeeping display from Strakosha. England vs Serbia to look forward to tomorrow now, then

My main problem with this whole VAR/semi-automated offside stuff is that they still haven't sorted obvious corners out. Ridiculous. That was an excellent save from Donnarumma, though, and a great last chance from Albania. Jenas kept saying they should go for it but I think being composed and waiting for the right moment was absolutely the right call. Shame it didn't come off for them.

Really fun first half, especially with that slew of early goals. Impressed with Italy, they look in relative control but will probably be ruing not taking more of their chances -- at the same time, Strakosha has pulled off some great stops (that chip in particular), and Albania look like they could have another goal in them. Always love to watch Barella and that was a trademark Barella goal, lovely technique. And Chiesa turning the Albanian defence inside out and nutmegging someone on the byline? Insane. Anyways, for some funny moments, the sleeve patches seem to be falling off some of the Italy tops, and then there was this... Crowd is virtually silent Jenas: this is the problem with passing it around, like Italy are here, it completely sucks the atmosphere out of the stadium. As if on cue, the entire stadium roars out for no particular reason.