Julius

Games joining the catalog in April (and Animal Well in May): The original PS1 versions of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire, and MediEvil are the Classics for this month.

Thought I'd posted this, but the Triple-i Initiative (that's Triple-i as in "AAA, but indie" by the way) digital showcase is taking place at 18:00 BST later today, with 30+ announcements in a 45 minute show: I'm just glad to see someone's using "triple-i"

First full trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux Half expected for the trailer to break out into Wonka's Pure Imagination based on those early piano keys that last shot with the glass is wonderful, reminded me a bit of the Joker teaser poster for The Dark Knight. Not really sure where I stand on the first film to be honest, so might need to give it a re-watch before this releases. Joaquin felt the right call for the Oscar (probably a bit overdue tbh) as he gave a great performance, but the film in general I wasn't a huge fan of, especially with how much it aped off Scorsese; lovingly or not, it just didn't sit right with me. Also felt like it leaned into and gave a few toxic corners of the internet a bit too much to fester on. Very curious to see which direction the musical aspect of this film takes, if it's just one song or a good few, because I mean, you don't hire Lady Gaga as Harley to not have her sing a couple of times, right?

It's trailer time: August 30th confirmed 3 days of early access via the premium editions is kind of gross, but I'm totally considering it Game Informer's next issue will also focus on the game:

Nice to know that water is still wet, because Ubisoft still leaks End of August just feels perfect for this, got a Star Wars-packed summer ahead! Might need to check myself but it feels like the most stuff we've had come out in a relatively tight window in a while. It's tough to imagine it getting delayed seeing as it already was internally, and because they've got an Assassin's Creed they won't want this thing too close to. That thumbnail has me hyped! Also seen that the rest of the translation mentions ship customisation (not expecting anything beyond colours like we got in Fallen Order, will happily be wrong though) and a season pass, curious to see what that's about. Between this and an Assassin's Creed set in Japan to tide me over until the Ghost of Tsushima sequel, it's looking to be the year I lift my self-imposed Ubisoft boycott

Ronaldo has seriously gone off the deep end over in Saudi, getting a red tonight: He's looking more and more like Daniel Plainview from the end of There Will Be Blood (if you've seen the film you'll know this isn't a compliment). Disgraceful. Dude refuses to go peacefully into the night and it feels like he's actively tarnishing his career these days.

Yeah, that's normally what I do too, take a short break (couple of days, sometimes a week), swap up genres or game lengths and then I normally get back in the groove; been through that cycle a few times already the last few weeks. This particular rut has followed me since I shelved Rebirth, longest one I've had in a good while. I think getting through the Battlefront Collection last month was honestly purely down to muscle memory, I just don't seem to be clicking with a lot of new(-to-me) games at the moment. I know I'll get back to the ones I've shelved for now, and it's not like I was too far into any of them to the point I'd be against starting over, which I much prefer to jumping in mid-game months removed and completely at a loss Ah well, as far as problems go it's not a terrible to have, if I can even call it that in the meantime I've been in a film-watching mood so I've got through a chunk of new films over the last month. Not counting online sessions with friends, my session with BG3 last night was the longest I've had with a story-focused game since I replayed Part II, though, so that feels like a good omen Fingers crossed, eh?

My gaming rut knows no bounds because not that deep into Chapter 2 of Lost Judgment, it's been shelved (for now). Always a bit frustrating when I find myself scrambling around to try to find a game I'll gel with like this, just bouncing off every game I start up at the moment. So I'm starting a solo playthrough of BG3 from scratch this is my Lolth-Sworn (typically red-eyed, underground elf folk) Paladin of Vengeance (think Batman and the sense of fairly absolute definitions of judgement and justice) Drow: Tafr'aq. His name is based on the Arabic term tafrakh, or 'spawn', which relates to me choosing to do a Dark Urge origin playthrough this time around...and that's all I'll say about that. And here's his Guardian: Already knowing a fair chunk of the story from my time with it in the co-op campaign, I decided to go with DU this time to mix things up a bit and see what violent tendencies are thrown into the mix (for those unaware this run basically has an evil in your head which bypasses some rolls and decisions, and so you can either fight against or go along with the urges you get). I also know it's the run with the most tie-ins to the older BG entries (which I watched a summary on before diving into BG3 last year), and there was something really appealing to me about the idea of doling out this sense of justice as a Vengeance Paladin and smiting down evil, when that same evil I'm seeking out is also stuck up in my own head and making me commit atrocities out of my own control. I have a general idea of where I want to take this playthrough, fully expect my Oath to be broken, and have some aesthetic tweaks planned as the story goes on relating to Tafr'aq's eyes and hair; I'm basically viewing this run as an Anakin Skywalker-style fallen (or falling) hero, which suits the three act structure of the game perfectly. I think the main reason I want to get through this solo playthrough is to get a better idea of where I land on the game; as I said before, much as I enjoyed it with friends, the story itself didn't get a chance to shine and neither did the NPCs or our relationships with them, and that's why the ending ultimately felt a bit flat in that run. One of my friends has only played it through from start to end in our co-op playthrough and has declared it his favourite game of all-time, and while I respect his decision to come to that opinion, I'm a bit shocked he would say that based purely on our co-op sessions and not after completing a solo run, given that so many of our issues with it seem like they could be ironed out on a solo playthrough. And others which will shockingly stick around. I guess that's where our opinions split on the matter, but it's rare that I complete a game without seeing everything it has to offer or in perhaps the best way before declaring it one of my favourite, let alone of all-time! I probably won't go too in-depth on my playthrough here (maybe updates on an act-by-act basis and any interesting or funny business I came across), but it's already feeling very different controlling four characters as opposed to just the one, and it's interesting that I can break my Oath by, for example, freeing a prisoner, yet let someone else in my party do the same and my Oath sticks won't be going out of my way to save scum but will definitely be keeping a number of quick save files to hand in case my Oath breaks before I want it to. As a last aside, talking about save files: the saves in this game are fairly big, which makes the options of 'Delete Campaign' to save going through all of your auto- and quick saves very welcome, and 'Delete all but last save' (or something to that effect) being great for a quick clean-up job! With or without Larian, I will be shocked if BG3 doesn't end up on the Switch's successor. It's simply too much money to leave on the table for both Hasbro and Larian. On the side of Larian sticking around for a port, there being no DLC(s), expansion(s), or BG4 in the works means that they could just be working on a straight up port already (as opposed to waiting to release a definitive edition in 4 or 5 years if they were working on DLCs/expansions). If the game does come to the Switch's successor I also think Larian would want to support it because they know that it's their name on the game, and their support on PC and consoles - despite some hiccups - has been spot on, with hotfixes constantly in the works, major updates post-launch such as the epilogue being added, etc. On the other hand, it's Hasbro. I wouldn't be shocked if they lacked the foresight to tie Larian down to a Switch 2 port once the Stadia release plans got thrown out the window, and if Larian are planning to move on, given how they've treated staff that have worked on the game at WotC and in other areas of their licensing, they have very little to bargain with here I feel. The cheaper option will seem like the smarter option to them and so I think you'd still get a BG3 port, it'll just be a third-party, and more prone to bugs as a result. It really could go either way -- I think what we'll ultimately see is a middle ground where some third-party teams up with Larian for the main port effort and then they're overseen by Larian post-launch when implementing fixes, but seeing as there'll be nothing major being added, I think the overwhelming majority of the footwork should be put in before a potential launch so the game can flourish without the need to be patched, like how the physical PS5 and Xbox Series release includes waves of updates already on-disc. We'll of course need to wait and see, but I think BG3 on a Switch successor does 5+ million in unit sales easy, probably 10+ if the thing can get close to Switch console sales numbers.

At it again

Just finished the 4-player campaign with my friends after 104 ½ hours. It was an overwhelmingly great time, I've got issues with the dialogue and chaos of loot with so many of us so the true highlight was combat; we're pondering a second playthrough and might seek out other games like this in the future for our weekly gaming sessions (DoS II in the future, perhaps?). Really enjoyed it and I'm definitely considering giving the game a run through solo at some point. HOWEVER, without spoiling anything major about the game, I kind of want to warn people against playing the game in 4-player co-op, at least for a first playthrough like it was for us. For the ENTIRETY of the game all 4 members of our party - our 4 created characters - were present in all major cutscenes, even if one was front and centre and considered the "face" of the party for a particular cutscenes, everyone was shown in the background as you'd expect. And this was the case...all the way through to the finale and epilogue, where it decided to focus in on only one party character, and the three other created characters weren't present. What's more? Lengthy farewells and hurrahs are had for the NPC party members who had been left behind at camp the entirety of our playthrough. The epilogue is ENTIRELY redundant in a multiplayer playthrough like ours where the party is filled with players because the focus is purely on said NPCs. Again, a great time overall and this wasn't an issue for 99.9% of the playthrough, but to sell the premise of 4-player co-op campaigns so hard and then just miss so entirely on how that's managed with the ending and epilogue feels like a huge fumble. I can't speak to the ending from a solo perspective - I could guess at the issues I'd have based on what we experienced, though - but this really put a damper on the game for me as a way of rounding it off. It's genuinely brought into question whether we even want to do a second playthrough, which is crazy but just shows how much of a letdown it was with how it was - or rather, wasn't - handled. Very disappointed for our multiplayer campaign that ended in such a way

Story trailer drops Tuesday at 17:00 BST: Love that art. Got to imagine we get a date, and man, summer doesn't sound too crazy if we do get a release date on Tuesday...

I saw that it was a tribute but...I just can't get behind brown shorts. I really can't. It just looks like a kit a little kid draws up because they're out of crayons in nursery to me. I respect your right to an opinion, and obviously it's subjective, but also: It probably would look cool if the Tintin brown trousers colour didn't make it look like Lukaku was running around like Donald Duck. True, but also, I don't think anyone else is doing a particularly good job of showing it off either!

Great win for the mighty mid-table Chelsea tonight....goodness do I hate so much of what Boehly's done since coming in. Nice to get a result against United at least. Anyways, flicking through the old Euros 2020(/21) posts in anticipation of this year's competition just being two months away (!). Given my early excitement and just how great the last Euros and recent World Cup both were (from a footballing POV because, well, the ethical side left much to be desired), expect this one to be painstakingly average Way more importantly: have you guys seen the kits for the nations taking part this year, which were worn in the most recent international friendlies? Those are some of the most disgusting tournament kits I've ever seen. Belgium's Away Kit needs to be tried at The Hague for crimes against my eyes. The only thing that makes all of it worse is that news a little while back that Nike's taking over as kit producer for Germany. Groß. (yes that's a stupid 'gross' joke, bite me)

I'm tearing up lmao. Waited, what, a decade for them to pick up the Barriss thread? And they just throw her in the thumbnail Super hype trailer, though I guess that's not a surprise. Tales of the Jedi was a bit of a mixed bag I found, hoping this is a little more consistent, but at least with Barriss confirmed it looks like it could stick to revealing some darker secrets like the Dooku episodes in TotJ. This and TPM anniversary screenings the same weekend, can't wait ETA:

So, this game had turned up in the Top 40 Most Played list for Xbox in Japan... ...leading some to believe that testing for the game is underway (and not hidden, for whatever reason?). If that is the case (and I can't think of any other reason it'd be turning up on a list like this), I can't help but chuckle at it turning up in the Top 40 - certainly speaks to how Xbox is doing over there

Ubisoft Forward returns live to LA on 10th June: Guess this is when we're waiting until for blowouts on Outlaws and that Japanese Assassin's Creed game.

Rated in South Korea: This news comes days after wishlist pages turned up on Xbox and PlayStation digital storefronts on April 1st. Soon™?

Tales of Kenzera: Zau is also hitting the service when it launches on April 23rd. Strong push for the service this month by the looks of things!

Booted this up yesterday after a combination of being in a bit of a gaming rut and some personal things have been going on meaning it's absolutely the best time to pull out an RGG game, and this was next up for me. Less than two hours in but some fast and loose thoughts: • RGG actually takes onboard feedback between games, and I LOVE it. After seeing Infinite Wealth had directions and the like attached to certain moves, turns out Judgment revamped the tailing missions: gone are the grating alarm that rings immediately after the target leaves your line of sight when the countdown begins and the set destinations for blending in, and in comes some music that's a bit more frantic and just holding down Triangle to start playing with your phone or inspecting the floor. One of my biggest complaints with the first game pretty much dealt with - the only aspect of which was the number of tailing missions, and I guess I'll see if and how that's been dealt with as the game goes on. • Judgment and Lost Judgment easily have two of the darkest openings of RGG games, and LJ takes my pick for top spot. If you're particularly squeamish the inciting incident will leave you feeling a bit faint. Respect them for it. • just out of the gates immediately setting the tone that is the balance of humour and tragedy. • they've brought it more into other games too but MY GOODNESS the production values are insane. Looks great, there's a part early on where you're seeing security cam footage with blurred faces in a news bulleting, it switches to POV handheld smartphone camera, etc., it's excellent. • the inciting incident is right up my alley, as I'm sure it would be for any RGG fan. It's delivered in such a dramatic way just...perfection. • Snake Style as the new fighting style is pretty great! It's about flowing in combat and then delivering rapid and deliberate strikes to incite fear into opponents. Very Karate Kid illegal moves sort of thing. • the skateboard, I can already tell, is going to be a SUPER welcome addition. • I'm very curious to see if the game delivers on its early promise to have an informative take on bullying. It seems like it might go that way based on the early parts of the game and the debrief of what I assume is going to be the main case, with some really interesting facts thrown out. Really hope it continues to go this way, the first game had a surprising focus on a certain illness and bundling a lot of informative detail into it's story about said illness, so would love to see the same for bullying. • there's something weird going on with the audio here where skipping a line of dialogue causes an overlap in some cases, when in other RGG games the dialogue would neatly cut off before the next line started. Could see that getting annoying. • totally forgot about the anime-style opening for the game I know it's only a few posts back in the thread but I'm going to post it again anyways because I loved it: After Judgment I know that these particular games place more emphasis on being soaps starting a detective vs actual detective stories, which suits RGG's sensibilities to a tee, and so I'm really in the mood for this now. Can't wait to beat up some school kids

Just had the same thing happen again and lost most of my progress on the Marksman medal. Think I've figured out what did it, though - I went to go hit Respawn as I selected a villain just rushing through the menus to get back into the fight, and accidentally hit Restart. Did some digging and it seems like not finishing a battle in particular is what causes the issue. Yeah, my Platinum run is being put on hold indefinitely, might come back to it at some point but I think I'm in the mood to play something else with the long weekend here, so that'll be when I'm burning to play the game again and it'll probably be a bit more natural than just grinding it out. It's mildly frustrating but, worse than the feeling of just having wasted a bit of time for the game to bug out again, it's the first time I've ever felt soured on spending time with Battlefront II, and that for me is the unforgivable part. The monkey's paw really curled on me with this one I was holding out on completing the original Battlefront campaigns as my last trophies for the Plat to see if I could get a nice screenshot for it (in hindsight, probably should've done this with the BFII campaign) but I think I'll play through those today before I call the curtain on my time with the collection and uninstall. Aspyr. Suck eggs. Seriously.

Makes complete sense to me, and I thought the TGAs trailer pretty heavily implied that would be the case, what between the title, showing one massive flat open area (a staple of all open worlds ), and especially with the different ways your mount would interact with the environment. It's the only way I really think you could go "bigger and better" than World from a more objective technical and marketing POV (but not necessarily from an actual quality POV, jury's out on that I guess), I don't think you could make those zones much bigger without it being a bit confused about what it wants to be. I do think it's the right move for Capcom after World purely because of how big that game got sales-wise, but if that wasn't the runaway surprise success that it was, then I would think this sort of move would be super risky. Still, though, sucks for those that aren't fans of open worlds in their games if it's not handled the right way (will always struggle to understand the "all open worlds are bad" tribe though). I do think that there's a way to do it right here in the same way that I think there is a way to make a great open world Pokémon game, but ultimately the quality level it reaches relies on Capcom, as there's some great potential hunts to evolve between biomes, new environmental hazards turning up and phases, like imagine chasing a critter into one biome vs another and them adapting to that biome in a way that is unique, would add tremendous replayability. I will say I think it's going to be easier for them to plug more MTXs and the like into an open world vs with zones, though. Curious about how an eventual DLC works if it's going to be open world, though, is it just going to be an alternative open world, a massive zone accessed through a menu, or haphazardly taped onto this one?

Wild that this still only has 'Summer 2024' as a release window given that it's just a few months out, I wonder what's up with that? Per a Famitsu interview with Masaru Oyamada, this is being developed by NetEase's Sakurai Studio: So I guess S-E's plan to focus on more in-house development hasn't quite come into effect just yet

It's official: Take-Two Interactive is set to acquire Gearbox Entertainment for $460 million (source). Embracer continues to embrace new levels of completely warranted comeuppance.

Won't be watching until I've come back to and completed the game, but Episode 1: Shaping the World of Inside Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has just been released on the PlayStation channel: Love stuff like this.

In fairness though, like @Hero-of-Time said, there are so many other games that could come to the service instead or alongside these that I can't help but agree with you both. Makes me think that it's a case that Lucasfilm Games are pretty happy for all of these to make it over, and they offer up much less resistance/are more encouraging of having their classics thrown out there than a number of other companies. Ahem, Capcom.