Ronnie

Sounds like you and I are on the exact same page when it comes to Star Wars, I agree with everything you said. I might have to try that "So love has blinded you? " quote sometime . Also I never want to hear Darth Vader say the word "Padme" ever again, shudder. Totally agree on Anakin v Obi Wan going on way, way too long. And we really don't need them duelling on floating droid platforms over fiery lava to make it epic ffs. The "high ground" line is yet another example of the terrible script, which is a problem when it's literally at the climax of the encounter. I'm hoping the Kylo Ren/Rey battle is a bit more grounded, seems to be from what we've seen. My main problem with the prequels (apart from the characters and Christiensen, Portman and Samuel L Jackson's portrayals, especially the latter "badass" purple lightsaber ) was I didn't think the actual story-telling was up to much. It was obviously a big focus, but I just think Lucas completely missed the mark. He focused so much on Anakin, everything had to be about him, so when you finish watching 3 it's like, ok? So Anakin turned to the dark side because of love (a bit of a lame reason, Obi Wan made it sound cooler in 4) and all three films ended on this massive downer. I wish they a totally different grander storyline as the foundation, with a cast of likeable characters accomplishing something over three films, but with the sting in the tail being Anakin's turn to the dark side. At least they would have stood on their own a bit more and been a bit more than just a way of showing one character failing. It's one of the big reasons I'm happy to forgive the rehashed story-telling of the sequels, I find the characters really compelling and fun to watch. Get the characters right in a Star Wars film and you're half way there.

I know what you mean about the how gawdy looking the prequels are. It's funny comparing something that was made 20 years ago to something like the Mandalorian and how little it seems to be relying on CG, even two decades later. Episodes 2 and 3 are almost unwatchable to me, just from a visuals pov, never mind the horrendous story-telling, script, pacing... He at least had the humility to ask for help in the original trilogy and that's why they turned out so well. For the prequels like you said it's like people were too afraid to argue with him, and those are the result. I do think he has some good ideas though and as much as I love the sequels so far, they're probably missing a bit of the "magic" that Lucas might have offered (in moderation). See I think 3 is the worst of any film. It's just a total mess. They've managed to make the script between Padme and Anakin even worse (remember that awkward as fuck balcony scene where they're taking about how much they love each other?). I'll just about be ok to watch 1 again, but 2 and 3 terrible. The CGI, characters, acting, script, pacing, story-telling, concept, everything.

Looks great, might not buy it at release but will definitely get round to it assuming reviews are good

Apparently the D-pad direction buttons will do what you're looking for

Three of the D-pad buttons do that I think

Good to know I might switch this off from the start

Disappointed you didn't tell us where on the Amazon chart it is this week

What's annoying is there's still no launch date in the UK, which definitely seems to point to it being a while off, like you say Feb/March at the very earliest, probably later, and they don't want to tell people because that would push even more to pirate it.

Yeah as cute as the glow in the dark Polterpup keyring looks, I'll save those £5 thanks

No but sounds a great idea for them to get more word out. *checks postbox* ...

HYPE!!!

Ok FINE, watched it, you guys happy now! Looks great. Big fan of trailers that don't show much, seems to be a running theme with the IX one too. I think with Dave Filloni involved the story-telling should be good. Really liking the look of Gina Carano's character, she seems cool. All the characters do tbh. I certainly won't be waiting till next year to watch it, sorry Disney. But yeah when it does come over here I imagine it'll be released weekly. There must be some weird licensing deal in place or something that's stopping them from launching Disney+ here.

New trailer. I’m not watching it, any good??

Jesus

Shame about the clickbait negative headline

This "game" looks full of charm and loads of fun, need to pick it up at some point

It's interesting reading all this praise for the game's visuals from most reviews, I was listening to Kinda Funny's preview last week and Tim Gettys said the animation and art style were fantastic but the game just looked rough and flat out bad at times. He wondered if it was down to his 4K OLED tv maybe.

I'd like to play Death Stranding but it just screams all style, zero substance to me. It'll be fascinating to see reviews for that, the scores will be all over the place I think

I'm tempted to delay getting LM3 too till the Christmas period (always nice to have a Nintendo first party adventure game around then) but I don't think I'll be able to resist. I'm waiting for Link's Awakening to be patched anyway, seems I was totally wrong on them smoothing out the frame rate by release, played an hour and put it down till it was fixed (if??). Jedi: Fallen Order will be the big non Nintendo AAA game for me this Nov/Dec.

Nice review. Out of curiosity, are there a lot of cutscenes and if so are they of the quality of the opening (and presumably closing) one?

Another brilliant Switch exclusive. 86 on Metacritic

Mario Maker, Astral Chain, Fire Emblem, Link’s Awakening, Luigi’s Mansion, Pokemon, Mario and Sonic... They’ve earned a quiet December!

Yeah I think we're done with Directs now until January/February. Maybe a mini one or yet another Pokemon one but otherwise definitely not expecting anything till the new year.

I'm trying to not let negativity rule my thoughts and opinions on things, internet culture seems to be dominated by it, YouTube rewards that sort of content and so it's all over that site, and people like Sterling thrive on it. If publishers breathe the wrong way gamers grab their pitchforks, seemingly on a daily basis if you read ResetEra. Star Wars does something unexpected with its characters and it's "The Biggest Cinematic Failure Ever" according to one YouTube video that keeps getting pushed onto my screen, the uproar over GOT season 8. I'm just sick of it. I know I'm guilty as any but I'm trying to change and just steer clear of all this constant negativity about everything. Having an opinion is of course fine, and obviously things deserved to be called out or criticised, but these days it seems the balance is all wrong.

If by amazing you mean unbearable, then sure. I think (and hear) he's the biggest bellend in rugby at the moment.