Julius

Starting to get the feeling they might be ending on Astro unless there's a mega surprise tease here As much as I love Astro, imagine shuttering Japan Studio and then making the fleshed out version of the packed-in demo a State of Play stinger

Looking like the list was right

We've hit the international games and VR2 section of the show woo

And now Ragnarök on PC... Cool for PC players These PC trailers will never be as epic as the pre-launch ones for initial launch though, with how much "GOTY/includes DLC!" and "minimum graphics card requirement" flashing across the screen

First up is Concord. Cool looking CGI character vignette but...eh, hard to feel too invested in CGI trailers for games these days (especially seeing as they don't seem to go as big and epic as they can?). Is a first-person hero shooter. And I'm out. Third-person camera pullbacks for dodges and special animations are cool and seem to be in vogue, though, between this and Indiana Jones. Pre-launch beta in July before August launch. Bleh. Maybe I'll give it a bit of time with some friends.

Started off with a countdown going into another countdown. New animations though, so...okay? If that doesn't just sum up the state of PlayStation right now

Ubisoft Forward has now been confirmed to be taking place at 20:00 BST on June 10th, and yes, we're getting more on Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows: Not-E3 Week™ is shaping up rather nicely!

I thought you were a fan of Bloodborne, though?

The link is already up: This video will run for 35 minutes and 32 seconds.

Ah don't worry, it could be worse they could always pull the "we're proud to announce that we're closing Asobi and that we're done with Japan, thank you and good night" I have to imagine it'll be a PS5-focused title, but I think it may come with the potential for some sort of VR2 mode or exclusive levels, which will set them up to work on a VR2 exclusive title down the road quite nicely. Aye, their handling of VR2 has been the only thing worse than their first party output this gen imo (obviously I mean this relative to their crazy output last gen, which was consistently high in both quality and quantity). "Let's release a £500+ peripheral, barely support it with high-end first-party offerings, but support it just enough that it takes up 20% - 30% of each State of Play and Showcase". That PC adapter is probably the best thing that's going to happen for VR2 until Asobi put something out on it (if they put something out on it). Yeah, I think it's smart to get out ahead of Not-E3 if they've not got any megatons to drop. It's kind of crazy how expectations have kind of slumped for these things as the gen has gone on, but there's always a chance for some third-party Japanese wildcard to grab all the headlines with these things. The Silent Hill Transmission is actually taking place at the same time as this, so we're getting Silent Hill 2 Remake news either way I imagine...but I'm going to die of laughter if we don't get it in either Bend feels like an outside shout, I also think it's worth them throwing a tease for something big in there from one of the big dogs like Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Santa Monica, etc., just seems to be part of Sony's MO a lot of the time these days. Right now, multiplayer offerings aside - which I selfishly want to bomb to send a message to their board, but also want to succeed for the sake of their studios existing and no-one losing their jobs, y'know? - I'm really getting 2020 vibes from PlayStation, when we were going into that summer with no word on what was coming up besides The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima, and they feel set up to announce a couple of things here, even if only teases, which we might not see until the end of the gen (from the above big boys). Anyways, not saying it will happen for sure, and think it would be much more likely at a Showcase proper, but if we get a tease for *something* here, I think it could be the Ghost of Tsushima sequel. That game did gangbusters, samurai are "in" this year between Rise of Ronin and the upcoming Assassin's Creed: Shadows, and I have to imagine that there'll be a bunch of asset reuse, even if there's probably plenty of scope creep with a much larger map, more ways to get around and styles of play, etc. 2026? Let's not forget a noticeable chunk of this presentation is very likely (unfortunately) going to be their upcoming first party multiplayer stuff And now I'm missing E3 all over again This is honestly pretty much where I'm at going into this too: expecting and hoping for the next Astro game, and then...potential snooze fest between VR2 and multiplayer stuff. Prove me wrong, PlayStation! (please) Maybe? It feels like we're long overdue on anything from Bluepoint, this is the joint longest I think they've gone without releasing a game themselves (and that was crossing the threshold from one gen to the next, even with a focus on remasters); going to have to um, actually you here though and point out that Demon's Souls was 2020, though they did support on Ragnarök back in 2022, which, combined with the leaked concept art of theirs included in the Insomniac leaks, certainly does suggest they're working on something GoW. Now, whether that's remake/remaster stuff for the original trilogy, I'm not too sure – I think they'd be better served just getting non-streaming versions of those games on PS+, and the leaked art from what I remember if it seemed to suggest more of a spin-off, with no Kratos and Egypt..? Though obviously it's concept art and could be from forever ago, so who knows what their plans are these days though I guess a basic remaster akin to the HD collections back on PS3 could help support a release like that. What they should really be doing, though, is remastering/remaking a game like Omega Boost

Finally!

Adapter for PS VR2 to work on PC is being certified by Sony in Korea: Original source

Couple more upcoming events to add to the pile of pre-Not-E3. Firstly, the Next Indie Direct was announced to be airing this Saturday (1st June) from 18:00 BST: And secondly, the Marvelous Game Showcase makes a return this year, streaming at 15:00 BST this Friday (31st May): This broadcast will be 30 minutes and 30 seconds long.

I worded it terribly, but yes, that's exactly what I meant it's the only sensible solution!

If I'm remembering right, I think the Nintendo Life review mentioned that you'd be able to start again from the boss room if you go down during a boss battle, and that all of those cutscenes are indeed skippable. I won't lie, I was mainly there to see how chaotic the conversation around the decreased frame rate compared to the original was in the comments

Obviously the only sensible solution here is to buy both and have each version built

The Great Deku Tree 2-in-1 set arrives September 1st! Price is £259.99. Link (heh) for page/pre-order. Some images:

PS Blog with Days of Play update for the Catalog is live! Finally some word on those PS2 titles! Available from 11th June: Free monthly games, available from 4th June: Catalog additions, dropping all over the shop: And some PS VR2 games, also available from 6th June:

Another Silent Hill Transmission is scheduled for June 1st at midnight BST! Are we finally getting a release date for 2 Remake?

If you listen really, really closely, you can almost hear the monkey's paw curling (but seriously, fingers crossed, can't go having III remade this way only for I&II to be announced in 2027 and finally released in 2028/2029 )

Oh HELL YES, finally an update! Hilarious to me that Horii's tease of potentially doing I and II at some point might mean this is the trilogy now (big might, I guess chronologically the tagline makes sense still if that's not the case?) – I do feel like it would explain why we haven't seen it in such a long time, and also help justify a potentially higher price tag? Which I'm sure S-E would loveeeeee to do. Interesting to me that there's no PS4 listed but the Switch is. I know the Switch has obviously done much better than the PS4 in Japan, but the PS4 has done much better than the PS5, so can't help but wonder if this is S-E having some sort of agreement to cycle things on to PS5 and leave PS4 in the dust now. The real question is, now that they've dropped this and they seem to be implying that the marketing cycle is ready to be refreshed and start ramping up for this game: where are we going to be seeing it next? The rumoured State of Play/Showcase? The June Nintendo Direct? Summer Game Fest? Are S-E going to randomly swoop in with their own event?

A Japanese fan has created an alternative, ultra chaotic bloopers/behind-the-scenes-like take on Trailer #3, and it had me in stitches, so thought I'd share To compare this to the original: Love it

Paging @drahkon (who gets first tag for his avatar ), @Hero-of-Time and just about anyone else who has love for Astro's Playroom – because it seems like we're not too far away now from the announcement of Astro's next adventure! Per pretty dang reliable leaker Billbil-kun (dealabs): This also adds to his previous report of a showing of Concord in the next two weeks, and Jeff Grubb having at this point tripled down on a PlayStation Showcase taking place before the end of May. The next Showcase seems inevitable. Feel like there's honestly a lot riding on this one, and a new Astro Bot game would certainly be a step in the right direction! Which is hopefully a fully-fledged realisation of the potential of Astro's Playroom, and then some