Julius

Well freaking done Dortmund! What a team performance tonight from them, even if fortune clearly favoured them after the number of times PSG hit the woodwork tonight. Mbappe's last chance to bring the Champions League to PSG seemingly slipped through his fingers without having much of a say about it, but I think that was less down to him and much more down to the elite performance Dortmund put in. Would love to see Dortmund win it all this season. So, who's it going to be? A grudge match against their biggest domestic rivals and the team to knock them out at the death in the final at Wembley in 12/13, or a match against one of their former stars playing in the best club to grace the competition? Going to be fun to see how it all plays out looking forward to tomorrow night's match!

Dragon Quest's anniversary at the end of the month though, right? So it won't be too long until he's saying something about it

I just...wow. The crazy part for me is that it's been nearly a decade since this video and the landscape for Xbox hasn't much changed. I'm not sure why any developer at this moment in time would be willing to hand over their studio unless for a quick payday, because odds are increasingly low that that studio makes it particularly long. Don't mind me, just going to update the studio names in the Series X | S thread (someone should keep an eye on Schreier's original post too...)

Game Informer with the reputation scooooooop Sounds like they're going to be riffing off WB's Nemesis System to some extent, though obviously not to far because, well, those pigs patented a mechanic and should go to hell for it. This brings an end to their cover story coverage of the game, which included an interview weighing in at nearly 40 minutes long: I still need to check that one out myself!

Oh my word they've just announced a new controller variant: I know it's probably unfortunate timing but read the room Xbox COME ONNNNNN

This is genuinely disgusting stuff to see from Xbox. To @Dcubed's point, yep, Hi-Fi Rush was inarguably the most positive reception we saw for an Xbox published game last year and I'd go so far as to say their most original in years, too. Remember Mikami leaving last year? I wonder if this is a case of the overseer not being around and then shutting up shop because they saw value in the name more than anything else because of him. He might've also left seeing the writing on the cards, but I struggle to see that being the case - it's a huge assumption on my part, but Mikami seemed genuinely interested in pursuing and instilling confidence in future talent with Tango, so I'd be shocked if he left them in the lurch. I imagine he'd be seething right about now. Between Xbox and PlayStation that now means only PlayStation has a foothold left in Japan of the major console manufacturers besides Nintendo, right? Being Team Asobi (Astro Bot), Polyphony Digital and XDev? Shocking. I think that's totally warranted. The way they've marketed that game to me has been bonkers; I mean, here's your reminder that between announcement (TGAs in Dec 2019) and its planned release (May 2024) are 4½ years...we're talking a marketing cycle nearly as long as Final Fantasy VII Remake's for crying out loud (E3 2015 in June to April 2020), which was just shy of 5 years. Like, no pressure, guys. Nearly half a decade for a game which isn't going to be sizeable and at this point I've seen draw unfair comparisons to God of War is wild. While true, Xbox is well beyond the point of being a problem child for them at this point and with them seemingly transitioning into publishers over console manufacturers - regardless of what Phil said a few months back, we've since seen several releases on other platforms come and go, and I imagine many more are on the way - I imagine they're consolidating their gaming plans with surefire hits to shore up their roster of game on Game Pass. Which I'm sure all of us here and many gaming fans all over the world would agree is a terrible idea, but then, well, when was the last time they had - and executed on - a good one? Backwards compatibility and the adaptive controller are great initiatives but target such niche markets that it doesn't exactly move the needle for Xbox as a whole. Which is hilarious to me because of how poorly they handled the Fallout TV show's launch – I mean no game released in the last year or coming in the next six months to capitalise on its success, I mean, really? Fallout 4 has basically ridden that high in another game's absence, but has done so at a heavily discounted price. Speaks volumes about Xbox's poor planning, really. I've got a lot of strong opinions about The Last of Us Part I Remake, but given the show's success some six months after launch and that game and Part II both getting noticeable bumps in sales figures as a result, it made perfect sense.

I know it's been posted in the Developer Massacre thread, but for posterity's sake given how it reshapes a pretty decent chunk of their Zenimax acquisition: Arkane Austin, Tagon Game works, Alpha Dog Games (not Studios) and Roundhouse Studios (not Games; they'll be merging with Zenimax Online Studios) are being shut down by Xbox. Shocking.

And if we want to push it even further, we technically had the implication of an announcement of this announcement of an announcement back in February during the Q3 earnings report Just saying Yeah, I've mentioned the same thing before, so I'm glad someone else is thinking along the same lines. They totally could copy the Switch's answer sheet and give us an October reveal trailer, January presentation, etc., but that comes with the risk of scuppering the legs on the original Switch this Christmas. Now, you could lessen that blow with steep price drops if you really wanted to (if there was ever a time to do it, I think it'd be this Christmas), but I just think it could muddy the waters too much for a casual consumer. I've said it before but a reveal at The Game Awards in early December would be big but late enough in the holiday period that I don't think it would permeate the mainstream consciousness (especially if you don't start up with ads), heck, you could even just drop a teaser trailer there with a console silhouette and some game footage. January presentation after that to give us the full list of details like price, release date, launch lineup, etc., and release between March and May ~ I do genuinely think Nintendo could get away with an extremely lean 2-3 month marketing blast starting properly in Jan IF this thing is simply a Switch 2 and doesn't go too ham on the gimmicks, because it'd market itself, and wouldn't need the 6 months that the Switch had. You throw some second screen in there, some tectonic plate detection or some other wacky Nintendo nonsense and yeah, it'll need longer, for sure. I just find it a bit surprising that some feel that it's a foregone conclusion that they're copying the Switch rulebook here, especially with them only saying they will make an announcement within this fiscal year ending March 2025 – they're giving themselves all the wiggle room in the world to delay news as much as possible. It's Nintendo, the Kings of Left Field that we're talking about here. I mean, using Nintendo's own words in that tweet here – they don't consider this the announcement, but like others have said, rather, the announcement of an announcement [within the next 12 months]. For me, September is the absolute earliest that we learn anything, but the Switch reveal trailer released in October 2016 and so if anything a September reveal would be more aligned to the idea of it replacing a September Direct, and as we all know, predicting Directs and their replacements is a fool's errand. After Gamescom and before the last quarter kicks off makes it the earliest we'd get anything. October right now, I think, is where I'd place my money if we were going to assume that they're following the Switch rulebook of marketing and release. But, as has been said, I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that they do follow that rulebook. They don't need 6 months from unveiling to release if this thing is simply "the successor to the Nintendo Switch" and so I wouldn't be surprised if that window was narrowed this time around.

Genuinely though, I think us qualifying for any European competition in our current state and management would be a death knell. A season without Europe where we can find our footing and some consistency would be much more beneficial to us in the long run than the cluster of games EL/ECL football provides.

Aye, that night and then running riot at West Ham yesterday. Bald fraud variant Jackson hits different. If we make Europe after this season we have to be in contention as one of the worst teams to do so in the last decade or two I feel, we've been absolutely horrendous and it's been horrible to watch how inconsistent and confused we seem to be on the pitch. I'd love a culling of the team this summer but that's not exactly possible when you've tied everyone down until they're pensioners, is it?

Just got back from watching TPM at the cinema and it was awesome to be back in a cinema watching Star Wars! First prequel I've seen in the cinema (finally!!). Did I nearly fall asleep during the podrace, like I always do? Damn right. The lack of music and focus during that scene on pure sound (for Ben Burtt to have his moment) combined with how boring the action going on is just, urgh, it's frustrating. And so is some of the dialogue. But the final duel/Duel of the Fates more than made up for it, as did the soundtrack - I was listening to my favourite (now defunct) podcast, Star Wars Oxygen, last night, specifically the TPM episodes, and I just love how much richness is there. Weaving the Imperial March into the end of Anakin's Theme is GENIUS, and there are so many examples of that in the prequels where John Williams is basically going back in time and setting up the archaeological finds we get with the soundtracks in the original films, just brilliant also Jabba's theme and Qui-Gon's, but of course, nothing topped that final duel musically. Also got to point out to my friends some of my favourite things about the film having watching it so many times, like Mace Windu being an extra when the council first arrive on Naboo towards the end of the film, Vader's solitary breath at the end of the credits, and Jabba the Hutt being played by 'Himself' in the credits. What I really enjoyed and went in trying to reframe the film as being is that George went into this film knowing it would be the lightest, and made it the most hopeful and childlike. Do some of the poop jokes go a bit too far with this? Sure. But I think I get the intent a bit better now, even if - like much of the rest of the film - it wasn't executed in the best way. Think I'll be rewatching all of the other films in the coming week, but for now...I think I'm going to stick with my previous rating of 6/10 for The Phantom Menace. It's so close to being a 7 for me, in all honesty, but the fact that the most boring part of the film to me is in the middle of the film is such an egregious sin and it's the closest I ever get to falling asleep in a Star Wars film EVERY. DAMN. TIME. Attack of the Clones is the weakest of the prequels for me, but I'll gladly go and watch it in cinema because, well, it's Star Wars, whenever the time comes (probably 2027 for its own 25th...URGH). Revenge of the Sith turns 20 next year and is by far the Star Wars film I most want to see in cinemas, but I'm likely waiting for the 25th anniversary in 2029 or something 50th franchise anniversary screening I'm 2027 for that? Meanwhile I guarantee The Force Awakens get re-released for its 10th (!!!!) anniversary next year, which, well, I'll go to...but come on! We then stuck around to watch the preview for The Acolyte, which was only a couple of minutes - basically just the wuxia-like fight we've seen set up in the trailers between Indara and Mae, very heavy Matrix vibes when you get Carrie-Anne Moss saying "we've got an unidentified Force user" and by the way, emphasis on the wuxia-like nature of the fight: Indara basically floats up the banisters on a staircase in a couple of steps. This was then cut with a few shots we've seen from trailers before and some new stuff as a bit of a stinger, it wasn't AMAZING but it felt awesome to get a preview for a Star Wars thing! Dialogue was CLEARLY cut during/around the fight and so they're certainly hiding something. Incredible trailer, much better than the preview we got to see following TPM imo. That "Sith"'s helmet looks awesome with the teeth! And also we can see a potentially newer model of Vector starfighter (the Jedi starfighter of choice during the era) than I think we've seen elsewhere in High Republic stuff, unless this is just how it's being adapted to live-action? I do actually wonder, with us now seeing this helmet-wearing "Sith" – assuming, based on the footage we've seen, Mae is the titular Acolyte and being tested (she tries to steal Indara's lightsaber during their fight which makes me think she's being tested to get a lightsaber to bleed the crystal? Idk) I wouldn't be surprised if this guy is the apprentice and the first season/show ends with the reveal of the master. Or, if this guy isn't for real, he'll get killed by the true Sith at the end. Really curious to see how it shakes out, just knowing any Jedi that come across an *actual* Sith can't really be allowed to survive. We also got another poster for the series, which again, looks great: Last thing, I've had a theory about a certain character for a while now, but I'll throw it in a spoiler tag just in case I'm right (which doesn't happen too often, but often enough that I know an educated guess I make about Star Wars normally isn't a million miles off)... Super excited for The Acolyte, think I might do a bit more High Republic reading before it drops

Someone has painstakingly recreated the opening to Republic Commando, and it is GLORIOUS: Love it happy Star Wars Day folks!

Trailer for Season 4 of The Boys: Can't wait

Another trailer: Here's a question for you all: with Luigi's Mansion 2 and 3 being on the Switch from the end of June, do you think Nintendo have plans for the original game? I know it came to the 3DS in its dying days, but do we think Luigi's Mansion gets a full remaster for the Switch 2, a HD remaster to fill out the standard Switch roster in the next 2/3 years during the transition to the Switch 2, or will it just be thrown on NSO as part of a potential GameCube collection? Because I've always found it a bit strange that they decided to free 2 from the shackles of the 3DS while leaving the original behind, seeing as most people I imagine (myself included) would like to start where it all began. But yeah, just curious!

Nah, I won't stand for this slander. I don't think the quality faded with the DS games, I think you just grew out of it or your relationship with the franchise shifted as you got older. Everything's subjective, blah blah blah, but let's be real here: the quality objectively crashed into a brick wall and never quite recovered with the transition from 2D to 3D with the 3DS games. Game Freak weren't well-equipped then, and the shocking thing is that in the decade since, they've only looked less experienced as the games have become more demanding.

Freaking insane that Leverkusen are 6 games away from an unbeaten season in all competitions: Besides that wave still rolling in, the Conference League has honestly been fantastic since it first started up a couple of years ago, I find - probably the only food decision UEFA have made in the last decade (also MAYBE doing away with aways goals in knockouts, though I did love the tension that added). The chaos and it bringing the atmosphere of European football to relatively smaller clubs has been fantastic to see. Stupid name, though. Basically a merger between the Europa League and Champions League in terms of initials (ECL), the Europa part of it can lead to it being buried a bit, so maybe needs a rebrand. Looking forward to next week's games!

PSA: all EIGHT of the Hollywood live-action Spider-Man films are returning to UK cinemas later this year! This follows the re-release announced a month or so back for the 100 year of Columbia Pictures over in the US. Didn't really know where this belonged but eh, it's a re-release, so general will probably do Despite not actually showing on Odeon's Twitter (currently known as X) account, it's been picked up by film fans and actually shows on the Odeon app having first screenings for most locations on the Wednesday just before the Friday listed, meaning I guess these are getting showings from Wednesday to Sunday of the week listed? Below are the release dates. I've verified this by checking the app myself so, yeah, despite no official word – it's all there! Think me and my friends are in for Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and No Way Home. I might be down for watching Spider-Man 3 in cinema, it's the worst one by a longshot but I reckon why not finish the fight and watch the whole trilogy? But yeah, anyways, there's your heads-up

Caught up on The Bad Batch S3 last weekend ahead of the finale on Wednesday, which I've also watched. Damn onion cutting assholes over at LFL Animation I swear, that ending got my eyes watering. Overall I'd say the show is the most consistent in terms of quality between it, TCW and Rebels, and I think all of its episodes are probably in the top 60% or so of animated episodes by LFL. There's nothing terrible about any of them. It's also the best looking of the bunch for me, it's insane to compare this and S1 of TCW to see how far they've come! And the music was great as always from the Kiners, too. Despite the *actual* ending scene getting me a bit choked up, I do think it falls short of the epic and emotional journeys that both TCW and Rebels took you on in their finales. Look, not everything can end with a 10/10 episode, but it did feel like they downed tools on certain ideas they'd been pushing on the audience throughout much of the show (which I won't spoil but should be very apparent if you've seen it) and it ended up being a bit of a backdoor pilot for potentially another series (or two?) set in the period between Episode III and Episode IV. To which I say...urgh, really, again? There's also a bit of an Occam's Razor (Lightsaber?) thing going on here where so many of your first and simplest instincts about what's going on are probably right, which I don't think we've had in Star Wars for a while, but makes me glad I didn't tune in weekly or I would've felt a bit letdown, honestly. Anyways, I loved The Batch, and loved Omega. Her theme is one of the greats in the GFFA. The character arcs are solid and I love how much The Batch felt now compared to when I watched them on animation rigs all those Celebrations ago. And, speaking of Celebrations...my ticket is booked for Japan 2025

"Universal Epic Universe" will never fail to make me laugh

Let me quote a message I sent to my friend about FC24 the other day – for context, I've stopped buying FIFA at launch, only get it digitally, typically pick it up at Christmas when it's 50% off or wait until it's on PS+...or skip it entirely. Really been getting excited for the Euro's this year and FIFA wasn't on sale anywhere. I sent this on Friday. So anyways, I bought it. And you see what happens? Excited for Tunic though

Excellent result for Dortmund tonight, thoroughly deserved, though them and PSG both spurned a smattering of chances; beautiful goal from Füllkrug. Fingers crossed for Dortmund next week, would love to see them make the final. Last night's game between Real and Bayern was great too, though it really just showcased how poor the quality of defending has generally become at the very top level. Hard to not feel a bit sorry for Kim with how much he got called out on what was clearly a poor night for him.

Grain of salt and all that fun stuff (or maybe not, if you're a slug), but Vandal are touting some potential knowledge they have if the Switch successor (source article): All of this sounds a bit on the safe side to me? • potential accessory manufacturers being able to touch the console but not actually see it in some Fear Factor-type of way is weird as hell. But this is Nintendo, so fairly believable. • early 2025 release has been touted for a few months now, nothing new here and seems to be the expectation at this point. • bigger than the Switch but smaller than the Steam Deck makes perfect sense. Would expect screen size to increase but Steam Deck has some thick ol' bezels and is just generally a big boi. Fairly believable. • Joy-Cons being magnetic rather than having a rails system makes total sense, I think I'd love that so long as the magnets were protected enough they they didn't wear over the time. Funnily enough the lack of any detail when talking about the Joy-Cons relating to the drift issue makes me think this is real purely because I maintain that Nintendo ain't going to say or show anything being different when it comes to this before launch. Remains to be seen if that would actually mean not making any changes, mind you. • current Pro Controller being forward compatible makes complete sense, it ain't cheap and other than an actual D-Pad (which I'd expected on the new Pro Controller) I don't think there'll be any major differences to it. • Joy-Cons potentially not being forward compatible is interesting, would be a shame but makes sense with a magnetic system vs rails. Still think they could make some money here with Joy-Con jackets that have the same magnet system as the new Joy-Cons reportedly will. Overall...magnets, amirite?

First trailer for Jim Henson Idea Man: That song gets me every time

This is on sale on the PlayStation Store for the first time since launch, down to £10.71 from £15.99.

Heads-up, Hi-Fi Rush is on sale on PlayStation for the first time in the May Savings since it's small PS+ launch discount - it's currently down to £19.60 from £29.99. Pleasantly surprised by this, as I was a bit worried Xbox might've gone the route of avoiding putting the game on sale on other console platforms for a while.