Julius

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):

Who's that Pokémon? It's... Chameleon!

Finally got back to this today, completed the fifth dungeon. I'll admit I think that's probably the weakest dungeon I've completed so far; it's not bad, by any means, it just felt like so much of a chore to traverse compared to the four earlier dungeons because it felt like each room had an obstacle which was placed there purely to slow you down, which is fine the first time through, but not so much when you're backtracking as much as you (rightly) end up doing in some of these dungeons. Yeah, some of the stuff they seemingly decided to keep in the transition from 2D to 3D continues to be pretty odd, I agree with the idea @Jonnas that they've perhaps chosen to be too faithful to the original game in some regards, so it feels a bit weird when the GB-ness of it all comes to the fore when there are so many QoL improvements made, like how a certain enemy which looks like a Bidoof with a rock tied to its head needs to be hit from behind, so you hit it from behind, but you go for another hit when it still hasn't turned around and – suddenly, it has turned around, and it's rock tied to its head has protected it also encountered a bug where the music from the overworld followed me into a cave and both tracks decided to duke it out in a cacophany of confusion, only happened once, but again, it just jumps out purely because its Zelda and this feels below the level of polish I've come to expect from these games. And yes, the frame rate issues have persisted; no, it's not the end of the world, but it is a bit annoying. Elsewhere, the overworld exploration just keeps getting these layers added to it with every new item unlocked, and while it's not my first Zelda rodeo, it being my first 2D Zelda, I feel like you have a much more explicit sense of when and where to start using these new tools after getting them, purely because the game is, obviously, smaller than, say, Ocarina of Time. It's the condensed nature of the game that I'm liking quite a lot, actually, because it just helps to keep pushing you forwards – in fact I think it's because of this that the fifth dungeon feels comparatively weaker than the ones before it, it just doesn't feel as well paced. Anyways, game is great. But the real highlight for me so far has been the soundtrack. Oh. My. Word. (that picture he got sent has me dying btw) What a soundtrack. It just feels so intimate and diverse in how silly it allows itself to get, which is very different to the subtlety of the music in BotW and TotK, and the very delineated OoT score, which has plenty of nuance but is much more traditionally bombastic, heroic, and, well, legend-evoking. I realise I've still got a good bit of the game left but, well, I know thanks to placing a phone call that the Face Shrine is next up, which I have heard before and am very much looking forward to experiencing in the game, and with the game mentioning it so much, I'm expecting a nice payoff when I finally get to hear the Ballad of the Wind Fish in all its glory. Feels obvious where this is all going and has been for some while, but to put pen to paper (pixels to screen?)... No-one confirm that, obviously, I don't want to be spoiled but I would also like to be wrong and have it noted for all eternity if I am

Per Collider, The Acolyte is set to release this summer: Feels like it's been virtual radio silence on the show since Celebration last year, and even that was just an event-exclusive trailer and a handful of interviews. It was a pretty damn good trailer, mind you! Would be reeeeeeeeeally smart of them to put a trailer for this in front of the TPM 25th anniversary showings, could really lean into setting it up with "100 years before The Phantom Menace" (so it's almost certainly not going to happen )

I haven't read the manga but I have watched the two seasons of the show released so far, and it's been superb. It's one of those lovely cases where everything I've heard about the manga compared to the anime suggests that any differences are miniscule, and so it really is just a preference for how you'd like to approach experiencing such an awesome story!

Had been looking ahead to next year (Revenge of the Sith's 20th and The Force Awakens' 10th) that I'd completely forgotten this year was the 25th for TPM! Man I really hope RotS gets a re-release next year and I don't need to wait another 6... Anyways, yeah, I'll be there, absolutely (assuming the re-release arrives over here, which I'm assuming it will). Going to see ROTJ in cinemas for the 40th last year was really special, but to experience Duel of the Fates in cinemas? Can't wait Absolutely an S-tier poster Matt Ferguson never misses with Star Wars, loved his ROTJ 40th one last year: ...and just like that, I find myself in a Star Wars mood again

Always love a @Glen-i Pokémon thread, so thanks for this! No question for me: it's Bulbasaur. First Pokémon I chose the very first time I actually played Pokémon - at a friend's house, LeafGreen on his blue GBA SP, got up to Mt Moon and evolved the little guy. It was also the very first Pokémon card that I owned, given to me with a few other cards by an older kid on the playground back when I was in Reception (pretty sure I got a Charmander, Chameleon, and bloated Pikachu, along with some other cards, from them, too). Did that card get pretty much destroyed when my parents threw it in the wash, not knowing it was in my pockets? Yes. Do I still have that kind of crushed and water-damaged card to this day? Absolutely. Bulbasaur was also my favourite Pokémon of Ash's, based partially on its look, but also it's personality. Weirdly one of the earliest instances I can remember of relating to an animated character. I just love him. Unfortunately, I think Ivysaur is a slight step down in design and Venusaur even more so from there, but Bulbasaur is definitely my favourite of the original trio. Second would have to be Squirtle. Again, just another great design, but also: Squirtle Squad. Urgh, someone give me a Squirtle Squad game in the style of Yakuza pleaseeeeee! Another one where I've got a memory tied to the card, too. While I had a base set version of Squirtle, my friend gave me his Team Rocket Squirtle... ...which his sister had actually gone over Squirtle's main lines with a silver glitter pen. It honestly still looks great to me to this day (yes, I still have it). I actually think Squirtle has the strongest line of the original trio overall in terms of design, as I'm a huge fan of Wartortle too, and though Blastoise is great, it's similar to Venusaur for me in that it's just kind of bit more ugly and blocky than it is cool. As for Charmander...yeah, I think it's the weakest design of the original three. I'm not a huge fan of Charmeleon's design either, actually, but Charizard is - and it is not close - by far the coolest of the final evolutions of the Kanto starters. To this day it's fight against it's clone is still one of my favourite in the entire anime: As for Pikachu...look, Pikachu is awesome. Classic design. I love Pichu and Raichu too (and Alolan Raichu is S-tier), but yeah, it's never been one I've really put side by side with the original three starters, despite them all appearing together with Ash and obviously being a starter in Yellow and Let's Go, but yeah...I think for me it's last when stacked up specifically as being a Kanto starter more so because it becoming a starter just feels like an afterthought, and it also just doesn't really fit in with the trio, as there was certainly a little theme going on when it was just them. It's one of those instances - and I know we still get them, but I don't think to the same degree - where it seemed like Pokémon just knew what they had. Gen IV Pokémon like Munchlax and Bonsly getting into the anime and marketing a year or two ahead of the release of Diamond & Pearl was great, and so many of the Pokémon shown off before that transition to Gen IV was awesome, but Lucario got SO much love even outside of Smash, and personally - as a Lucario lover - it's not hard to see why. Mystery Dungeon of course, but then being front and centre for Lucario and the Mystery of Mew – it was a surefire hit way before we first stepped foot in Sinnoh I'll argue it was one of the coolest bipedal Pokémon we'd had since Mewtwo, the aura/energy stuff around Riolu and Lucario seemed to lean more into shonen anime type coolness which we'd only occasionally get to see in Pokémon, and never for too long. So yeah, love Lucario I can't be too hard on you for this because of your love of Wii Music and Bulbasaur, but hey: Squirtle, Totodile, Mudkip, Sobble and Froakie are S-tier starters! S-tier!!

Bosman nailing it as always, this gave me a good chuckle: The last point about a very vocal subset of fans wanting Xbox to return the loyalty they've shown them is a bit too accurate

HideoTube has returned after 7 years! Think I might check it out this weekend, but I'll see if anyone has the cliffnotes

It's up: Man, love hearing the orchestra take on Tears of the Kingdom's Main Theme shame they went with the Reprise though, I wanted to hear the second half known for the sax

Reminder that The Legend of Zelda Orchestra Concert will be available today from midday:

Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this one, @drahkon. Haven't bit the bullet and picked it up myself (I think in large part because my group still has our BG3 campaign running), but it's really tempting to just pick it up and play through it a little mindlessly when our entire group isn't available but we just want to hop on and talk. I've said it before but the way this game has been handled has been super weird, to me at least. No beta or open demo for people to hop in and get a taste for the game ahead of launch, really weird trailers which I think marketed the game terribly and a strange cadence of trailer releases (I mean, releasing more trailers after your launch trailer? Really?)... ...but it still seems like it's doing really well, at least based on early Steam CCU numbers? Seeing a lot of buzz for and conversation around it, the early reviews/first impressions seem positive, there's a definite Zeitgeist around this game right now, and I won't lie, having delayed multiple purchases already based on the huge influx of games we've had at the start of the year and this game being half the price of those other titles...it's mighty tempting. If nothing else, I am SUPER curious. It seems like a bit of mindless, over the top fun, which I don't have much of going on with the games I'm playing at the moment. I think I'll see what the impressions/early reviews are saying when I get up in the morning and figure it out from there think we all know where this is heading... EDIT:

"special attention" given to the back of Eve the man has no shame, I'll give him that

Been thinking about the news we've had since last weekend a lot today, and I've got some particular questions I want to throw out there to get some other thoughts: • is Phil Spencer still at Xbox this time next year? So the word going around has been that there's something of a schism internally at Xbox, which isn't hard to believe at all given the mixed messaging we've had from interviews given by different individuals high up at Xbox and Microsoft. I would assume Phil was on the side of seeing the vision of Game Pass as a reason to buy into the Xbox ecosystem through, whereas it would seem like Microsoft folk have been pushing back against this in different ways (becoming platform agnostic, focus on service and cloud, etc.), so if he's not ousted, well, it wouldn't create a great atmosphere. It's also a case of the latest round of leaks seemingly coming from someone on the side of Xbox and seeing the vision through, not being happy about the decisions being made. • will next week's update be a video or a post? I'm 50/50 on this one. Xbox has had bottom tier communication for YEARS, to the point that while I think the normal and better decision would be releasing a video to put a face and emotion to the news, they don't have anyone to deliver news like this anywhere near the level of their "rivals", so maybe a post would be the smart choice. • is this part of the reason why we've seen them bleed talent as of late? Mikami. Hines. Ibarra. All left within the last 12 months, Ibarra following the ABK acquisition and Hines following previous leaks which showed some tension over the thought of Starfield coming to only one platform. Mikami's seems like a standard retirement, but also – if you were smart, you'd contractually tie that talent down, right? • what do you actually think is going to be said next week? I think they confirm some of the earlier leaks which have become more solid as of late, like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves coming to other platforms, maybe even offering up a release date for Hi-Fi Rush. I think there's a good chance they reveal an actual window of exclusivity for Bethesda and other upcoming titles, and I think the sweet spot is 1 - 3 months after launch (but the real sweet spot would be day and date purely for the zeitgeist if Game Pass isn't coming to other platforms and they'll be available as individual titles elsewhere, which they'll probably pivot to eventually), but realistically I think it's more like 6 - 12 months. I think there's a small chance that they mention plans for legacy titles to come to other platforms are in the works, and to stay tuned for news on that. I think they dispel this current line of speculation that Xbox hardware is going away, confirming new hardware is in the works (if this is a video I think you get the digital Series X announcement, if not then I don't think it's announced for now). I think if this is a video that they do all of this under the guise of "we here at Xbox see a unique opportunity with the talented studios we house to bring our games to all gamers, everywhere" and "Xbox Series consoles will remain the best way to play Xbox games, and the best way to experience Game Pass". Curious where other people might land on some of these.

Yeah, "it's the Stranger Things problem" isn't really something you can get away with here. It's not like they had any way of knowing that the entire story took place within the space of a year, it's not like they're adapting a story finished over a decade and a half ago or anything I totally agree that they should've filmed it back to back. It doesn't really move the needle on how I think the show will turn out when all is said and done - I'm kind of curious to see what changes they'll have to make to address the different timeline - but, I mean, it doesn't scream that they have full confidence in the project if they don't plan to see it through all the way to the end from the outset. What are they waiting for? They have the viewing numbers of the animated show to support the idea that there's an audience for this, AND that's exactly what got the adaptation greenlit in the first place! The fact that there's already an incredibly famous example of a work being adapted with simultaneous shooting from two decades ago makes this all the more embarrassing, and yes, I am implying that Avatar (TLA, not the blue people) should be treated with the same respect and reverence when being adapted as The Lord of the Rings.