Julius

I...honestly can't think of any, especially if we're talking a big gaming magazine with a print media element. Which is really insane to think about, and such a massive shame you've reminded me that I want to take the time to track down certain old copies of Edge though, they have some stellar covers from time to time

Thanks H-o-T, I'll update the release date in the thread title Kind of mental to me that they're still projecting Indy makes it out this year. For crying out loud, put that one on all platforms!

Yep, absolutely appalling. The number of people sounding off about "him", and in some cases even "it" (people are freaking vile), are another level of inhumane. Like, just think about it, too – even if it were the case that Imane was a transgender woman, it would be just as bad to then be labelling her as the gender she no longer identifies as (or, again, completely dissolving her of the respect of a gender label entirely in some extreme cases). I'm no Italian but the fact that one of their top senate guys was sounding off about this BEFORE THE FIGHT and the dude has a freaking far right, neo-fascist background (as in, it LITERALLY SAYS SO ON HIS WIKIPEDIA PAGE!) talking about Imane being trans, and we've since seen the likes of Elon and JK Rowling sound off on the same disgusting side as him...like, how could you possibly look at that situation from the outside before educating it and just assume that these transphobic douchebags are the ones in the right?!?! Yeah, I read into all of this the other day (my original post was much longer but I just kept finding more and more details about her treatment in the past) – like you say, by all means she's a cis woman who "failed" some tests by a corrupt organisation so bad that the Olympics actually wouldn't let them run the event in Paris and was never advised of the results, which has then painted her in such a negative light. It's also worth pointing out that she wasn't the only one to "fail" those tests at the World Championships only to be disqualified from that event but allowed to compete at the Olympics, as Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting has also gone through the same. I mean, freaking Taiwan – golly, I really wonder if any of the major powers that be would want to embarrass Taiwan on the world stage in such a way? And, look, on the extremely small chance that she actually does have some XY chromosomes – some cis women can be born in such a way, as a condition like Swyer's syndrome would literally explain how that would be the case. It would perhaps make the conversation a whole lot more complicated in some ways if she did have Swyer's (more XY, more test, etc.) but don't virtually all elite sports ultimately lean into people literally being genetically unique (the phrase "genetic freak" is thrown around at the top level a lot) in a way which would be advantageous? Think Phelps not being the tallest swimmer but having a crazy wingspan, basketball players being as tall as they are, runners with certain slow- and fast-twitch muscle fiber ratios. Are the people who want her banned from the Olympics and the sport in general basically just saying they want to watch a case study of some lab rats who are all genetically identical manage some feat, with the difference being...their attitude and training? On top of all of this, and not that it's really the greatest justification in the world, but Algeria as a nation is, by all accounts, transphobic as hell. Bottom line – if they had any reason to believe Imane was transgender, they wouldn't send her to the Olympics as a representative of their country, period.

Writing has been on the wall for a long time now, but it's still a sad day to see GI close down, especially seeing as they were still seemingly managing to get by both online and in print. I've said it before but back when I first got into gaming The Game Informer Show was one of many I caught up on and tuned in for on a weekly basis during Ben Hanson's time as host, so yeah, this one hurts. Some of their cover stories were genuinely best in the biz, too. Yet it refuses to go quietly into the night, and seems to all end on an incredibly sour note – it seems to be the case that not only has everyone been laid off effective immediately at GI, but no-one was made aware of what was going on even after the tweet went out. Abhorrent from GameStop and Ryan Cohen.

I actually think some of the recent moves Nintendo have made would suggest that there won't be a straight and simple price cut to the Switch models (even if I think it's the logical next step) this holiday period, but rather, they're going to have the consoles bundled with NSO+Expansion Pack, games, etc. – and heck, they seem to keep announcing more games being bundled with their expansions, too. The potential evidence for this is the upcoming limited edition Switch Lite for Echoes of Wisdom coming bundled with NSO+EP, and elsewhere Splatoon 3 is being sold physically with its expansion Expansion Pass bundled in, both announced between the period from the middle of June to the start of July. I think it's definitely the smart move, and it entices new Switch owners into subscribing, which they and many others will see as potentially being more important for growth - especially going into a new console release next year - than console sales alone. If they're willing to go really aggressive but not outright drop the Switch price, I'm thinking something along the lines of a console bundle with a game like Animal Crossing or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + NSO+EP (to include their respective expansions) all for the same price as the console itself would sell gangbusters. Those two particular games also seem primed to have physical releases which bundle in their respective expansions also. Once the Switch 2 is on the way/arrives though, totally agree @Hero-of-Time – drop that thing as hard as you reasonably can and chase that PS2 record, be it through bundles or a straight price drop. Get that Switch Lite down further to be more comparable to 3DS pricing, the base Switch down to something like £220/£230 and OLED to £250, which then gives you the space to price the Switch 2 at £350+.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team arrives on the service on 9th August: Well that's...certainly something. First GBA Pokémon game to make it onto NSO already has a remake available on the system, so I feel like it's a bit of an awkward one. Slim pickings on the GBA for the franchise when it comes to Pokémon spin-offs, sure - and by slim I mean literally just the two games, because it's this and Pinball Ruby & Sapphire - but I'm surprised they didn't just drop Pinball R&S alongside this.

This Imane Khelif stuff is insanely messy

Haven't watched nearly as many events as I would like to live, but have been catching bits and pieces where I can, as well a lot of highlights. The Men's Tennis Doubles has been absolutely superb and full of drama so far, probably my favourite set of events at this Olympics up to this point. Murray and Evans the other day battling it out until the death and Murray digging them out again and again and again and dragging them into the quarters was insane, and despite going out in the quarters, Nadal and Alcaraz looked absolutely ridiculous at times for a casual pairing for Spain and could just as easily still be in it if it had been their day. The noise when they initially pulled it back from ADV-40 to 40-40 in the final game (which they ultimately lost) was immense, swear I've never heard the Philippe-Chatrier that loud before, not to mention the place looking virtually unrecognisable without the green of Roland Garros! The swimming has been great too (even if I'll always be more fond of the times when the US crushed anyone and everyone in their path, as was the case when I was watching the Olympics growing up), last night Marchand really turning up for France and winning two Golds in just one session (!!!) with the 200m fly and 200m breaststroke, and setting new Olympic records in both!! The chanting towards the end of the 200m breaststroke from the home crowd was INSANE, another time where I swear I've never heard the crowd quite like it. As has the gymnastics. Seeing China bottle it and Japan step up to the mark in the men's team stuff, and then, of course Simone Biles is just a freaking beast. Not surprised at the big American names in the crowd when she's on, she really puts on a show and adds flair in a way I don't feel like has ever really been the case at summer games before.

I seem to remember it actually getting a lot of buzz around launch, it reviewed really well. It's getting a sequel called Ender Magnolia (I mean, the titles don't help, do they? ) which has been in early access since earlier in the year, so I wouldn't be surprised if Lilies' inclusion in PS+ is a lead-in to Magnolia's full release being announced.

Grasshopper Direct is up:

A free demo for the game has been made available on Switch from today, with save data carrying over to the final game.

A bunch of previews have dropped for the game: General consensus is that this set of previews is much more positive than what we heard coming out of Summer Game Fest last month – which makes sense considering that the demo at SGF was linear whereas this seems to focus more on the open areas. Still going in expecting a mixed bag, but hey, positive previews are positive previews!

And this is why I commit to a three episode minimum when I start a new show In terms of "more mature" storytelling and quality TV which can compete with the likes of HBO, Andor is the only thing close to that for me in Star Wars, from the performances, to the sets, to the music, it's all fantastic and feels like Star Wars trying to be competitive and do something fresh but necessary with its commentary or mirroring of certain topics/organisations and yet is still very much in line with George's original vision. After a decade of Disney Star Wars, it's perhaps one of the few projects in like with what A New Hope put forth, and certainly the only one to do so not graced by the hands of Filoni. That's probably not for everyone, and also probably not what everyone looks for in Star Wars, but given a fair shake I think you'd find some enjoyment in it. It straight up had me tearing up at times and easily has some of the most powerful moments in the GFFA, very easily some of the best acting in Star Wars, too.

My stroopwafel, Arco, has finally been given a release date of 15th August...and will also launch on Switch the same day! Very much looking forward to giving this a try

Demo available now, with 3 weapons being unlocked in the full game as reward for checking it out: A lot of demos dropping lately, and it seems like the smart time of year to do it.

Obligatory: have you watched Andor yet? I remember you saying you weren't the biggest fan of Rogue One, but other than a couple of familiar faces, it does a good job of keeping itself contained and building up an entirely new cast. It's still for me one of the best Star Wars live-action projects, probably, that we've had release under the Disney umbrella. Helps to have planned arcs and some solid execution, I suppose, whereas some of the other live-action shows - even when I've enjoyed them - are certainly flying by the seat of their pants at times. Probably also weirdly helped a good that Tony Gilroy wasn't a head-over-heels Star Wars fan going into his time working on the IP, too Anyways, looking forward to your thoughts on the final episode of Acolyte

A limited edition Astro Bot-themed DualSense has been announced! Pre-orders begin 9th August and it will launch with the game on 6th September: Hmmmmmmmm, do I bite or not? Really like the white/blue face buttons and D-pad EDIT: just realised after posting – I think this is the first DualSense with white analogue sticks? And I also think it's the first of the limited edition DualSense controllers to have a unique button/D-pad colourway, I feel like the other limited editions were using existing buttons. Gives me renewed hope for a PS1 anniversary DualSense...

Was just checking to see if tickets for The Amazing Spider-Man were up at Odeon and found something way better: EVERY FREAKING STAR WARS FILM (except Solo lol) IS BEING RE-RELEASED BETWEEN AUGUST AND OCTOBER OF THIS YEAR! Holy. Hot. Damn. I'll finally get to watch Revenge of the Sith not decided yet if I want to do it all on that one weekend but I can't freaking wait! I'm at least watching every one of them I haven't seen in cinema yet (Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, and The Empire Strikes Back), and potentially down for a re-watch of Rogue One. The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi I don't mind skipping just because I watched them both for anniversary screenings within the last 15 months or so. I was really worried I'd be waiting until Revenge's 25th anniversary after a seemingly inevitable skip for it's 20th next year in favour of TFA's 10th, so really wasn't expecting this

Trailer for The Penguin: Looks great. I really enjoyed The Batman, and I'm kind of hoping they sneak in a small role for him here just to tide us over until the next Batman film. I mean, just imagine a final episode where they're squaring off in the middle of a gang war and one by one radios go out and men go down. Like a boogeyman. Would love to see it. Might be time for a rewatch of The Batman now that I think about it...

I was saying to my friends yesterday how Feige's star ceremony was weird in that it potentially spoiled some of the cameos for DP&W, and I was shocked at how few of the main Avengers were there. Well, I guess this explains why they wouldn't have had RDJ there – did everything they could to have kept that under wraps real well, didn't they? LOL at that one guy correctly guessing RDJ though in the second clip What a pivot for the MCU, too. They needed someone to dig them out of the hole they'd been put in with the whole Majors/Kang situation and it seems so obvious a way to do it in retrospect, but I certainly didn't see anyone suggesting it – I figured they'd just do a variant Iron Man cameo (which I guess he could still do) in one of the Avengers films and leave it at that. But to keep the Tony Stark/Iron Man story well intact by having him play another character, and Doctor Doom no less? That's freaking awesome. The real question (and I say this not having read into it deeper, so maybe they've touched on it already): do we assume he's playing a Tony Stark variant? I feel like that would be infinitely more interesting and a great way to pull the main Avengers cast back in, too – not wanting Tony's name besmirched by, well, kind of himself? The Triple-Tap over the last week of the Russos returning for the next Avengers movies, Deadpool & Wolverine, and RDJ as Doctor Doom has me pretty freaking pumped for the future of the MCU now. We've still got to actually get there but, damn, you can't say Feige and co. haven't tried to call in all their favours to get this mess sorted. Got to imagine the package to get RDJ and the Russos back can't be cheap considering what they were getting paid by the end of Endgame, much less with the advantage of the MCU and Feige needing them. RDJ literally left the MCU, won an Oscar, and came back in the space of 5 years. Just let that sink in.

Just got back from watching this with some mates today, most fun I've had watching an MCU movie since probably No Way Home? Fell into one or two of the trappings I think comes with the territory of a multiverse story (I was constantly expecting another cameo), but yeah, made me laugh my ass off Hard to tell if this is the sign of things to come and the start of a turnaround, or if it's just a splendid one-off, but either way, it was a blast still chuckling at the Gossip Girl joke from the opening Also, banger soundtrack. Even with the context of this being US-only, it's absolutely amazing – being projected for a $400m+ opening weekend worldwide and has the potential to surpass the first Avengers ($207m) for domestic opening weekend, and if it pulls those off, would put it down as being the 6th best worldwide opening for an MCU film (behind Endgame, Infinity War, No Way Home, Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) and 4th best domestic opening for an MCU film (behind only Endgame, No Way Home and Infinity War). Be great to see it pull that off! Really shows that there's a hunger for great and fun superhero films still and that the "decline" of the MCU is purely a question of quality and poor word of mouth – I'd only heard great things about DP&W heading into it. Really curious to see what it's legs are like, especially seeing as comedies aren't the best films to bring in repeat viewings The Odeon Luxe I went to was PACKED, easily the third most packed I've seen it since COVID (behind only No Way Home and, weirdly, Dune: Part Two)

Teaser trailer for the Like a Dragon: Yakuza series: More interested than I thought I would be, feel like they've nailed the look at least. That classic swoop down into Kamurocho

Teaser for Creature Commandos from SDCC: And the new DC Studios logo (which will also be getting used for DC Comics also, but you know, minus the 'Studios' part ) ~