Ronnie

The gameplay looks kind of decent maybe, but it's hard to disagree with ... I genuinely don't understand how Game Freak can be in charge of one of the biggest franchises in the world, and still make games that look generations (plural) behind. Can they not, I dunno, spend some money and staff up in expertise? Really bizarre.

Fair play, Arceus actually looks pretty good. Well, not visually obviously, but it's not quite the horror show I expected from Game Freak attempting to copy BOTW.

Looks great!! Definitely English dub for me, no way I'm looking at anything but the amazing visuals. I wish this was a weekly release and not all at once though

Unless they delay it by 12-24 months I don't even have high hopes

Clone uprising definitely still on the cards. I assume that'll be a series finale type thing. Tech and Wrecker survive, Crosshair and Hunter don't, the former probably saving Omega, the latter saving Crosshair. I wish I was more musically aware to pick out a recurring Omega's theme. I'm pretty rubbish at that unless it's really in your face like Leia or Rey's Theme. Loved the subtle trepidation from the Clone trooper and Omega's shift in attitude. It's all great stuff, and such a strong foundation for an even better season 2. They desperately need to develop Tech and Echo though. The former especially in my selfish opinion Agree that the ending with Nala Se was a little anticlimactic, but it couldn't fit anywhere else and I'm just relieved they didn't do a big cameo reveal. I definitely think you're right @Julius that they're planning to flesh out the sequels' whole cloning thing. Same with Mando. Not expecting anything like the mind-blowing show last year, but maybe that's where we'll get our first trailer for Boba Fett. Maybe even a tease at Andor? I feel like that's a Q1/Q2 2022 thing. The dream would be to announce a Thrawn/Ezra spin-off show. Rumours of that happening from Kessell Run Transmitions a while back. I reckon: Dec/Jan: Boba Fett March/April/May: Andor June/July/Aug/Sep: Bad Batch S2 Nov/Dec: Obi-Wan Real question is where does Mando S3 fit in. Considering they've not started filming yet it could fit in before Obi-Wan, but I reckon it could be a Jan 2023 thing. Anyway, what a time to be a SW fan. Said it before but I've been happy to thrilled with almost everything since the takeover. Long may it continue

The quality of this show is staggering at times. That was quite a finale, especially given how relatively 'quiet' it was compared to others, but the atmosphere, visuals and script made it a brilliant way to round off a brilliant first season. It's really surprised me and I'm already gutted having to wait till next year for season 2. Audio and visuals absolutely top notch as usual. I'll leave it to @Julius for the more indepth thoughts

It's probably my favourite cutscene in all of gaming. The 'Leaving Earth' track in particular is just beautiful. I felt a bit down for a couple of days after finishing the trilogy, with it being over and all. A special set of games. Might play Andromeda again, hopefully ME4 isn't half a decade away, but it probably is.

Wow I've never seen that either! Pretty cool feature, don't think the other two consoles do that? Maybe I'm mistaken.

Switch games occupied the entire Top 30 in Japan last week. First time for a single platform holder since 1988! Famitsu Sales: Week 32, 2021 (Aug 02 - Aug 08)01./04. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) - 14.912 / 2.102.413 (+7%)02./02. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD <ADV> (Nintendo) {2021.07.16} (¥5.980) - 13.873 / 234.224 (-25%)03./05. [NSW] Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi - Owaranai Nanokakan no Tabi # <ADV> (Neos) {2021.07.15} (¥5.982) - 13.798 / 156.274 (+12%)04./06. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) - 13.615 / 3.958.065 (+11%)05./07. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure # <HOB> (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} (¥7.980) - 12.282 / 2.734.231 (+5%)06./11. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! <TBL> (Konami) {2020.11.19} (¥6.300) - 10.927 / 2.300.976 (+19%)07./09. [NSW] Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin <RPG> (Capcom) {2021.07.09} (¥6.990) - 10.135 / 205.463 (+6%)08./12. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) - 8.978 / 4.367.573 (+5%)09./13. [NSW] eBaseball Professional Baseball Spirits 2021: Grand Slam <SPT> (Konami) {2021.07.08} (¥6.980) - 8.950 / 159.492 (+5%)10./08. [NSW] Game Builder Garage <EDU> (Nintendo) {2021.06.11} (¥3.164) - 8.925 / 200.100 (-9%)11. [NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury – 8,248 / 836,56512. [NSW] Super Mario Party – 6,780 / 1,952,13213. [NSW] Miitopia – 6,536 / 217,95714. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 6,529 / 6,844,54515. [NSW] Mario Golf: Super Rush – 6,057 / 161,78516. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – 5,077 / 762,99617. [NSW] Pokemon Sword/Shield – 4,974 / 4,099,32518. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise – 4,748 / 2,303,19219. [NSW] Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – 4,639 / 397,15420. [NSW] Splatoon 2 – 4,460 / 3,915,90121. [NSW] Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 4,210 / 1,852,01222. [NSW] The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles – 3,737 / 18,19723. [NSW] NEO: The World Ends with You – 3,229 / 22,02824. [NSW] The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II – 2,853 / NEW25. [NSW] New Pokemon Snap – 2,756 / 265,98026. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! – 2,620 / 613,72527. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version – 2,577 / 604,82728. [NSW] Human: Fall Flat – 2,447 / 168,89729. [NSW] Dragon Quest XI S (New Price Version) – 2,274 / 122,57430. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 – 2,256 / 1,116,046

It was revealed in a prior Indie Showcase and I think it was in a non-Nintendo E3 stream earlier this year, but no release date until well, today.

Really great showcase. A bit surprised there was no big final reveal but Eastward looks fantastic and it's nice to have a date on that. Garden Story and Axiom Verge 2 shadow drop both on the same day!

December apparently for OlliOlli World. I'd love to see another Cadence of Hyrule type thing with an indie team trusted with a Nintendo IP. A Steamworld Dig 3 announcement or more info on the Shovel Knight games coming out would be great. Not expecting Silksong (crazy how that announcement trailer was 2 and a half years ago, it looked so far along!).

Would be great to see a release date for Tunic. There's a bit of a drought on at the moment, especially on PS5 and Xbox. Struggling to think of much left this year that I'm hyped for apart from Metroid.

That was awesome, loved that moment. This show and Mandalorian have been great at having instantly recognised main themes.

Great episode! Watched it with my nephew.

So we went from having 4 on screen at one time to... still 4. Really weird design, why would they put the description of the trophy all the way on the other side of the screen instead of directly underneath the title. At least you can see more than 12 characters I guess.

Another cameo!! Who'd have thought! Enjoyed the episode as usual, but having seen the "someone needs to be rescued from a base/data needs to be salvaged from a base" storyline a million times in Rebels and now Bad Batch, it's getting a little old at this point. I feel like it's their go-to story when there's surely so much potential out there to frame the episode a different way. Great action though, that's always top notch. And enjoyed the Kamino angle and the cliffhanger ending a lot. Definitely agree that this has been a really strong season though. My only nitpicks are the similar storylines and cameo-fests. Instead of focusing on another Clone Wars/Rebels character why not give us an insular episode like Trials of the Darksaber for Tech or Echo. I'm sure they'll come but it just seems like season 1 we should be focusing on the main cast more. I wonder if it's a Lucasfilm/Filoni thing or a Disney thing, the latter being a case of them wanting to 'MCU' Star Wars.

Platinum'd Mass Effect 3 last night. What an incredible game. A stunning end to a brilliant trilogy. It was worth the wait to play all three for the first time. Missions were epic and had variety, the character interactions were the best of the series, so was the gunplay. And the Leviathan and Citadel DLCs were fantastic. They had to tell new stories AND tie back to two previous games. The final choice was the best kind of moral dilemma, no right answer. I suppose a small negative would be that some of the bigger decisions in earlier games didn't really amount to that much, saving the council, saving the Rachni queen, destroying the Collector base. Then again the games juggle so many other decisions, it's a miracle we got what we did. It's also prob not a great use of resources to make entirely new bits of content with 90+% will have saved the queen and destroyed the base. I feel like playing them for the first time, back to back made comparisons between them pretty easy. My personal ranking is easy: ME3 > ME2 > ME1. ME1 was all about the lore for me. I could listen to Tali talk about the Quarians for hours. The mission design and gunplay haven't aged well. Most of the side missions were pretty much identical and a bit rubbish by modern standards. Though I did really enjoy the Bring Down the Sky DLC. ME2 was fantastic and an enormous step up from 1. It was fun recruiting the team but I'd say half of those missions were pretty forgettable. The game does feel like a collection of side-quests tbh, mixed in with a few grander missions. The assault on the Collector Base was great though, really impressive how so many systems tie together. ME3 does everything ME2 does but added better character relationships and grander, more epic story missions. Tchunka was incredible, as was Priority: Earth. Collecting war assets was great fun, especially reading all about them as you pick up new ones. The ending didn't bother me but maybe it's because I have the benefit of the extended cut. I don't often feel down when I finish a game (in a good way), but this definitely makes me sad it's all over. I might replay Andromeda down the line, and hopefully ME4 isn't too far away. I've a new entry in my Top 5 games (yes I'm counting the trilogy as one game!)

I've actually just started it an hour or two ago. It's loads of fun but VERY jarring to be playing it at this point in my story (just before the Cerberus HQ mission). I guess when it was originally released most people had already finished the game so it didn't matter too much.

Just played the Leviathan DLC, easily the best yet, far better than the (still excellent) Shadow Broker one. ME3 continues to be the best in the series for me, just better in every way than the previous two games.

I. am. shocked. Really weak year from Sony, basically just Ratchet and Returnal from them for the whole of 2021 Not a good look, especially after that ludicrous 2021 date for God of War. Still at least 2022 will be a good one with BOTW2, Starfield, Elden Ring, this and GoW2.

Ah that explains it thanks! Fair enough the October date obviously wasn't meant to be public knowledge. I don't mean to sound snarky with delays and release dates, I'm very much a 'take as long as you need' kind of guy, so many games are releasing broken or buggy these days. It's just frustrating that release dates mean pretty much nothing these days.

You're both forgetting that Elden Ring will get delayed as well, we'll get a letter on Twitter explaining how they want to make the game as polished as can be. *insert not sure if serious gif* I had it down in my calendar as October, looking online it seems Sony put up that date and then hastily removed it from the trailer