Julius

Man, I'd love a Switch 2 this year, but I'm not exactly short on Switch games to catch up on... I actually wrote a list out the other day of Switch games I'd want to get to picking up, just with things potentially starting to slow down and the increased risk of games leaving the shelves, and it was a *long* list. Enough for me to question my commitment to a Switch 2...for, like, a millisecond If it is Q1, going to be interesting to see how it's marketed, because announcing in October for a potential Match release in line with the current Switch could eat into it's Christmas sales a bit and make things confusing. To avoid this, I would love to see - and think Nintendo could absolutely pull off - an incredibly quick turnaround of reveal start of Jan, big presentation by end of Jan, release by end of March. If there's nothing drastically different to the Switch 2 other than more power, more screen, more games? You really could pull off a 2/3 month turnaround. Not saying that they would do that for sure, because there'd certainly be obstacles and reasons not to, but damn, I'd love to see them try. Honestly? I'd respect Nintendo so much if this was one of the reasons for a delay I love following the sales of consoles, so to see the PS2 and DS surpassed would be amazing, and I mean, why not? Hell, if they want to be really bold about it they could totally finally slash the price of the Switch or make even bigger and better bundles. It's a weird one where no-one really has games lined up this year, but I'm sure Nintendo will pull through. Like @Hero-of-Time has said they seem to have some things held back for a period where things might be up in the air a bit just like this is sounding like. Also, I know the FE4 remake is next, but with how many of the big first-party GC games might be on Switch by the end of this year, can we please get to Path of Radiance at some point already?! Please?!?! Oh and maybe consider a Switch version of Luigi's Mansion, too, because having Dark Moon and 3 both on Switch but not the first is going to drive me insane

Turns out that 34 million figure for Game Pass includes Core members, too. Cheeky bastards. Based on what we've heard previously (I think Core was ~11 to 12 million at that point), at best, Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions have barely increased, and at worst, they've actually gone down. So that's a big yikes. Hard disagree. Xbox saying nothing while their incredibly vocal minority of diehard fans go scorched earth and start trading in their consoles and posting about it online would have been a terrible look considering that they've decided to get buddy-buddy with what is now a fairly toxic diehard community; both PlayStation and Nintendo staff have backed off significantly over the last decade or so in terms of fan interactions and encouraging the idea that the relationship between them and us is anything other than transactional. Xbox are also absolutely abysmal at communication, and they have a history of being absolutely abysmal at communication. Anything other than an attempt at clarifying this mess, especially when it seems to be stuff perpetuated outwards from within their own walls, wouldn't have helped their situation at all. I've said it before, but the fact that it's like they were seriously about to go ahead with a mid-gen "our games are no longer exclusive and are coming elsewhere!" is absolutely stupid. It's exactly why I believe that's why it would have happened if not for the purported leaks and subsequent blowback. As a company in a primarily creativity-driven industry, there is something worse than people not talking about you, and that's your most loyal and diehard fans (customers) turning against you. Poor word of mouth is absolutely damning in this day and age. There is winning in this business, and right now, it comes about when you make a solid piece of hardware (which Xbox does have) and consistently release quality exclusive titles (first-party developed or through third-party deals) for said piece of hardware which are strong enough to sell the brand. While I do agree with Phil that exclusive titles are going to be less of a differentiator in 5-10 years, I feel like there's zero point looking that far ahead when you are losing NOW; Xbox are in a bad position NOW. Game Pass growth is stagnating and has been for a good while, and these Series X and PS5 are virtually at parity when it comes to performance, and so the biggest differentiators right now is the existing buy-in when it comes to digital libraries (which Phil admits they lost out on last generation) and exclusive titles. They are important now, and I think it creates this important cycle - while hardware sales are still important and not everything is coming to PC on Day 1 on PlayStation - later in the gen where you'll be able to pick up a PS5 at a bargain price with excellent AAA titles bundled in from many years before. It was similar at the launch of the PS5 with the PlayStation Plus Collection - a collection of some of the best first- and third-party games released last gen, as a great way to whet the appetites of people new to the platform. If Xbox were pulling out of the business I think it would be silly to expect an E3-style presser, but a brief 5-10 minute monologue with Phil CLEARLY explaining what's going on and what the game plan is would've been much better than what we got yesterday. For me, seeing how terribly Xbox handles these things just really highlights and strengthens for me the concept of a Nintendo Direct - and this idea that Nintendo want to communicate to YOU, the player; you know, a persuasion technique you learn in English classes in primary school?! - and shows how ahead of the curb Nintendo are on some things. This should have been Phil against a white background giving a sense of direction communication to fans. To file in Bond and Booty and disseminate this info - and not even complete info, because we got way more detail afterwards which muddied the waters again! - via a podcast where you sit on a couch and don't look at the camera and through to the people watching says so much. It's part of why Xbox feels so corporate and are so bad at these things, they scream "We're with you! We're gamers! We're for the players!" and then give the most sterile, least passionate, and most incredibly murky clarification possible, in a set attempting to be chill and relaxing when your fans right now are anything but? Look at the camera. Say you're angry about the leaks. Apologise for the delay in correcting these details, and be honest if plans have changed as a result. The best way to be for your consumers is to act it, not say it. They 100% should've looked back at what Nintendo did with the Prime 4 delay: Anyways, rant over. Xbox aren't going to learn, and I'm sure there will be consequences for that further down the line. I want to get to a point where I can't say "no" to their consoles and Game Pass - I've said so all generation - and yet I don't think they could continue to make their platform less appealing for me if they tried. Hearing corporate go "we are where all the big games are!" when you've had the weakest lineup of exclusive titles this generation just sums it all up for me. They don't care. There's no hunger in their eyes. As @Dcubed rightly said, I think they're cowards and beyond stupid with how they've handled this.

Pyoro is saying that the Partner Showcase lives, and that it's coming next week. And thus the cycle continues. (at least it's actually someone with a pretty bang-on history with Nintendo stuff this time around)

While I'll get to DB and DBZ at some point, I did have a shortlist of shows I wanted to watch this year, and even if I had known that DB and DBZ were coming to Crunchyroll over here (finally), the show I started yesterday probably still would've taken precedence. And that show is YuYu Hakusho. (Smile Bomb is an S-tier anime opening song, fight me) I'm only six episodes in, so there's a very, very long way to go, but I already love it. The power system is starting to get introduced (Yusuke just got access to the Spirit Gun) and definitely sounds on the surface like a prototype for Nen from HxH, which makes perfect sense considering this was also created by Togashi. Favourite characters so far are probably Botan and, well, Kuwabara. He's given me major Goro from Shenmue vibes, and every time he walks on screen I can't help but hear the Yokosuka Blues in the back of my head Can't wait to see where this goes, and very excited to get to the Dark Tournament arc – similar to hearing about the Chimera Ant arc ahead of watching HxH, I know nothing about it besides it's name and that it's widely considered one of the best tournament arcs in anime. And I do love me a good tournament arc

I agree with @Hero-of-Time that this being sat on for nearly two weeks for a near-complete nothingburger is dreadful. Could and should have nipped this in the bud immediately. And good lord do they not stop with the marketing buzzwords! Do also agree with @Sheikah that maybe things got scaled back as a result of the backlash - if nothing else I think it gave Phil something to go with to Satya and say "see, I told you. Bad idea." It's the only possible explanation why it took nearly two weeks for a low production and low effort 20+ minute sit-down to come together. Anyways, I took notes while watching, might as well share them: @Hero-of-Time to me that interview suggests they're going to do what they probably should have to begin with and trickle things out for the rest of this gen before taking the plunge at the start of the next. This discussion should never have been on the cards mid-gen, and whoever decided it was needs their ego to be checked.

They've...refused to name the 4 games lmao The Verge are reporting that it's Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves and Grounded

It's live:

So I've got a bit of a hot take on this, but I actually think it's a prime example of Grubb as a source of Nintendo "inside info", because I've found he's pretty good with everyone when it comes to rumours becoming tangible...outside of Nintendo. I think what's he's good at is trying to parse through current speculation and generally makes good educated guesses about what's going on; he might have a legitimate source or two, but they're certainly not at Nintendo, based on how hit and miss he's proven over the years. And I think this is one of those times where him not taking a better educated stab at what's going on here also makes it far less credible that he actually knows anything. Here's the actual tweet: Look, Nintendo could totally delay an event based on Xbox's business update tonight...but history shows they wouldn't, and it certainly doesn't suggest that such a delay would leak out ahead of time. Hell, we've had Nintendo and PlayStation events held on the same night before, and PlayStation are *actually* good at selling consoles and making games that sell those consoles (I'm sorry Xbox but yes that's a stray you're going to just need to catch and accept at this point), so from a marketing showdown POV, they actually pose a threat. "I heard", "they were discussing", it sounds like a total load of handwaving and face pulling when you consider that the only reason that Nintendo would move for Xbox giving a business update on a podcast - which by the way, can I just say, isn't even pinned on their X, formerly known as Twitter, account! In case I needed to highlight once again that they are hilariously bad at this marketing stuff - is because Nintendo's actual content plans have had to change as a result, like I said before, whether it be because they've had material get prepped for the potential introduction of Xbox games to the platform which isn't ready (this Xbox announcement was apparently planned originally for some time in spring) or because, well, it's Xbox's announcement, and not Nintendo's? So if there's Xbox news in the Direct relating to the Xbox announcement they obviously can't jump the gun? Obviously those are just educated guesses on my part, but then, wouldn't a legitimate Nintendo source suggest the exact same sort of thing, whether they know for a fact or by taking an educated guess themselves? That Nintendo are thinking of moving more explicitly because of related Xbox content potentially turning up? I also always find it weird when someone like Grubb doesn't share their actual take on the apparent leak, too. I mean, Nintendo delayed the Direct when the Queen passed away for the exact same reasons PlayStation delayed their PS5-unveiling Showcase in June 2020 (George Floyd and BLM): it would be in incredibly poor taste to do otherwise. This is Xbox we're talking about. It's being announced on a podcast for crying out loud. Even they don't seem to care all that much, so at face value, no, I refuse to believe that Nintendo are reacting to Xbox making an announcement on their future in a podcast; I do think that if it has been delayed (if it actually exists), it's because they want to do some cross-promo stuff in said Direct which will back up Xbox's news that can only work after the announcement has been made. I'll end there because I sound like I'm giving the sky a good old fist-shake... ...but man am I starting to get so tired of "insiders". I've said it before, but I'm already sick and tired of the Switch 2 news cycle, too is this newfound wisdom in my old age or am I just getting cranky?

Certainly seems that way. If the plan was for a Partner Showcase, I wonder if things had to be reshuffled following Xbox, well, needing to reshuffle themselves: either expecting a megaton from them (games coming to everything, everywhere, all at once) or just not having the material ready for Nintendo to show off if they were to, well, show things off. If Xbox stuff was going to show up in the Direct then I guess it makes sense that we'd need the Xbox showing out of the way first, and I can't imagine Nintendo - who actually can communicate well with their customers - leaving it to be announced and presented within a matter of hours. And hell, I'd bet on a shadow dropped video from Nintendo over that happening; it is worth bearing in mind that we have had shadow dropped Partner Showcases before (though I think the last one was in 2020? I'd need to check). Nintendo aren't against shadow dropping megatons themselves with little lead-up, and it's also the exact opposite of what Xbox would do, so that's definitely the smarter way to handle it Am I expecting it? Absolutely not. But if it is relying on Xbox news, I mean...maybe? An 23:00 shadow drop with no preamble would be very weird, but then, if there's any truth to these Xbox rumours that we're getting and we get confirmation on some of it tonight, strange things are happening: (sorry it felt obligatory) Yeah, it is exceptionally rare that we get an 23:00 GMT showing (considering most of Europe would be asleep at that time), so I'm not going to hold out hope. But then, we all know Xbox doesn't do great numbers over here or in Japan - so would Xbox stuff news coming to Nintendo Switch be bigger news best served and directed squarely at the US, with an appropriate time to boot?

Games for the Catalog in Feb: Resistance: Retribution is also inbound as a Premium game via Classics: Comes with a number of enhancements, too:

Can't remember the last time I saw something like this: the demo is getting a Performance Mode patch, and these same improvements will carry over to the full game's launch. Seeing the impressions come out with the demo it's not hard to see why, seems like the only consistent issue people were reporting was the graphical fidelity in Performance Mode mode. Still, this seems worthy of praise for me. S-E is one of the only big publishers still consistently dropping quality demos where they take on feedback, and now they're actually giving them meaningful updates the week before launch? Kudos to them!

The game passed the mark of 1 million units sold earlier this week: Feels good.

Yoshitaka Murayama, the creator of Suikoden and Eiyuden, sadly passed away last week This is the official statement from Rabbit & Bear Studios, who have been developing Eiyuden and preparing Hundred Heroes for its April release. I really hope that both Eiyuden and the Suikoden remasters release smoothly this year, as I don't think there'd be a better way to honour him. The first two Suikoden games are true gems and really deserve much more attention, and I know Murayama had shared in recent years that he wouldn't be against returning to the franchise at some point and continuing the story of that world. Rest in peace, Murayama-san.

New article from The Verge yesterday which talks about Xbox's plans to be everywhere: Only real news here, for me, is that Pentiment might be one of the games moving over - don't think it's been mentioned up to this point? Anyways, elsewhere, they've announced another limited edition Series S, this time for Dune: Part Two. Kind of nuts how many limited edition variants they've had compared to PlayStation, who seriously don't seem to care about branching out beyond their own IP. The LeBron collab is the only one that comes to mind?

Side Order DLC overview ahead of its 22nd Feb release: And Fresh Season arrives 1st March: Pours a whole lot of fuel on the fire that this week's rumoured/the next Direct is going to focus on partners, with how this was just so haphazardly dropped

Yuri Lowenthal has confirmed his involvement in the game: Knew I heard him so can we say that Helldivers II really makes you feel like Spider-Man? IGN, care to comment?

This seems just about the weakest way to do it – a podcast. Not fully going all the way with a video, not making sure you've got the wording right in a blog post – a podcast; it's serious, but join us on the couch! Which is honestly, at this point, pretty typical Xbox. As is having to wait nearly two weeks by the time this podcast goes up to address this topic? What, is Phil doing a live performance of Amazing Grace backed up by Bond and Booty or something? Not sure about "Time of Death", but the image for the podcast being all black except for the green in corners, with it more prominent in the top left and bottom right, certainly gives you the impression that they're viewing it in a very stark manner. Guess we'll wait to see how this all plays out

Completed the Face Shrine which means I can now say I've heard this masterpiece in-game! Little creepy how accurate a lot of this was. Yet another win for Dies Irae I guess Anyways, think that's my favourite dungeon so far. Sure, remembering where the crystals are to flick between orange and blue was a little annoying (by the time I got skimmed to marking them on the map I had them memorised!) but otherwise the atmosphere with the music, the dungeon layout, the bosses, and purposeful backtracking made it a fun one, albeit it a little long. Ventured around the island some more, finally dropped back into the Dream Shrine and cleared that out...so yeah. I know Zelda games are known for traditionally having eight dungeons and the map is almost completely uncovered, so I imagine I'm heading into the tailend of things now. Been a blast so far, hoping for a couple more awesome tracks to see the journey off!

First teaser for Deadpool & Wolverine: Poster: "A Hugh Hope", "Come Together", safe to say the tone has been set and thankfully nothing's changed

Probably a bit of luck and, as others have suggested, some things I perceived as "glitches" may just be really awkward-looking solutions or much too faithful carry-overs from the original game which for whatever weren't revisited when remaking the game. I think the reason it's flagging for me perhaps more than others, too, is simply because this is my first time playing Link's Awakening in any form; the BowWow weirdness I thought was a glitch seems like it might be just a faithful solution used in the remake. Besides that, I am pretty sensitive to frame rate drops and inconsistencies, as they can sometimes even make me feel a bit sick if it's inconsistent enough (often coupled with some visual design decisions which don't help, but this generally applies to third-person games and mostly to first-person, not so much top-down), and bugs/glitches/visual and audio weirdness I just tend to take quick notice of generally, too. It's actually a bit of a pain because, especially when playing new releases fresh off the production line (on the Switch or elsewhere), they're buggy as hell most of the time these days, and generally speaking are much worse from third-party developers. Nintendo-published games are generally fine, besides the last couple of remakes I've played developed by third parties (Grezzo for this and ILCA for the Diamond & Pearl remakes). Even in instances like Breath of the Wild, which has terrible drops in certain forested areas, it doesn't feel too bad for me because of the camera perspective generally being pushed so far back and wide, as well as the art style, whereas I remember wanting to hurl after my first session with Dragon Quest XI when running through tall grass didn't exactly help the frame rate, before a patch was released which fixed it. The Unfinished Swan was the absolute worst for this, though. You're surrounded by white nothingness early on and very little (or no) colour in first-person. Just, no thanks. I only played the first hour and though I'm sure I'd like it based on how much I enjoyed their other game, What Remains of Edith Finch, I'm never touching that game again. Maybe there's a further discussion to be had here about sensitivities when it comes to bugs/glitches, frame rate and visual design, because if nothing else it's interesting to see how others process these same things. I wish it was a case of me nitpicking (and it kind of is), but these things basically barge their way into my enjoyment of a game in some way because they're so apparent to me, which is often why they get mentioned at least once early on if I play a game with those sorts of issues.

Unfortunately I've got the game physically I say unfortunately, but I did get the game for free through a work rewards programme, so it's hard to complain too much That's kind of crazy to hear about it potentially being a data streaming issue, I guess it's still a drawback with physical media in the modern age but it seems like such a rare occurrence that, man, it just sucks and is kind of unfortunate if that is the issue here!

Universo Nintendo are reporting on some details from Brazilian gaming podcast PH Brazil that the Switch's successor will feature both physical and digital backwards compatibility, with devs having the option to enhance their original Switch games. I think we all agree this would be the smart move when it comes to potential backwards compatibility - physical BC going missing doesn't seem Nintendo's style and punishes early adopters during the transition period; digital BC has been heavily teased by Nintendo themselves when talking about online accounts carrying over to their next system - so I think the real news here (if true, grain of salt and all that) is the apparent option for devs to release updates which enhance previously released games. Would definitely be welcome in BotW's forested areas, that's for sure

The game may have been delayed a little bit? From Q1 2024 to Q2 (calendar year), so nbd. Per Eurogamer: Thought the trailer was stellar but man, weird vibes from how this has been handled, just with announcing a showcase so far out and seemingly wanting to release the game in early access at that time too, that seems a lot to commit to. Oh well, less than a month until we find out more – unless the Showcase gets delayed too

This is being delivered (heh) on 23rd Feb:

Figma figures are coming for TotK Link, Ganondorf and Zelda! Look lovely (well, Zelda pending):