S.C.G

Sega Lord X with a new video titled Sega Ages Shinobi First Look which really shows off what M2 have done with their latest port to the Switch. I can't wait for this one, I tend to wait for a lot of the Sega Ages releases to go on sale but when a title like this comes out, it's hard to justify not buying it when it comes out. I do have the Arcade version of Shinobi on the Wii VC but... this looks as good as that version if not better and with even more refinements.

Yes @Ike that's what I'm talking about! I've got the Dreamcast Packapunch cable from Retro Gaming Cables as well, got the scart which works with the Frameister and it works a treat. It makes PSO look pretty sharp and that's on the Dreamcast version, they changed a lot of the overall look and textures for PSO Ep I & II on the GC and for Blue Burst on the PC. The menus on the Dreamcast version seemed lightning quick though, didn't they seem that way to you? Just reminds me how well the original game ran on the original console. Really liking your HUcast character there "E106" ver3 is a cool name, Sonic Adventure inspired I take it? That reminds me, I have a RAcaseal called Azel on the GC version and because of the character limit on the PC version I called my character on there Edge. Got to love a good Sega inspired name for a PSO character, I'm pretty sure I have a FOnewearl called NiGHTS as well. I really could talk about PSO indefinitely, it's still one of my favourite games.

Here it is... A Smashing Cast Episode 0 is now live on my YouTube channel as a test. Just take into consideration that we're all new to this, the video capturing on my end is hit and miss as the video captured of what we were playing while we were talking didn't pan out so I had to improvise by using footage from the other night on October 31st from the Halloween Smash session which I believe features myself, @Glen-i @Dcubed and @RedShell All of the audio recording seemed to go well, there is a bit at the start where we were warming up in a timed match and we were then going to go straight into the first match, but there was some good conversation in there so rather than edit it, I've left that in, also the video goes a bit odd at the end as there was a freeze in the video so I tried to move some footage from later in the capture, just to fit enough in to go along with the audio and the video is terrible quality, this is just a test and I've only started learning how to edit and also we've all only just started doing this so it can only get better. Thanks to everyone involved who is in our Discord group so that's @LazyBoy @Nicktendo @Vileplume2000 & @Jonnas who are in the discussion and @nekunando who's in the group which everyone has contributed to, eventually resulting in the video that you see embedded in this post. Credit goes to Ryan for coming up with the idea in the first place but I think we've done well to get to this stage and hopefully there will be more to come depending on feedback and whether or not we're happy to have this on N-Europe, but hopefully so and I'd love to hear what you think about it @Ashley as we're happy to go ahead to continue and refine what we have with this, so long as you're happy for us to continue with it? Anyway, enjoy and please let us know what you think and any suggestions for improvement or praise if we're indeed worthy of it. (hopefully though) We've had fun with it so far in any case which is the main thing but we'd love to keep going with this in the future. (I've now reuploaded the video again after getting it to render at higher quality, taking two attempts and several hours of rendering but the video quality is now very much watchable, even if the footage towards the end is a bit hit and miss as it's just there to fill a static screen which was there before)

I'd say the same but, I just know I'll be on there, Nintendo Everything and other Nintendo News posting/reposting sites trying to get some news for the N-Europe front page. Rest assured though, that I know we won't post any spoilers or leaks from the games.

No, you're right... it's just a damned shame though. Of course they still need to give out review copies, it does make me wonder though if they will change their policies in the future and whether or not this will effect things. Ah well, I suppose it's just a case of damage limitation at this point... it seems like it's nigh-on impossible to keep any contents of a game a surprise until launch day now. I'm still looking forward to the game though, I hope no one misunderstands me, it's just frustrating as a reviewer to see this kind of thing going on, that's all.

Perhaps not but it sure seems that way with regard to what has been happening, ultimately though these people have been trusted with review copies, evidently some or a lot of them aren't trustworthy or are being persuaded or manipulated by someone to pirate the game and it's not right at all. It might not be a new phenomenon but now the effects of it couldn't be any more far-reaching due to the age in which we live, Sonic Advance 3 being uploaded three months before release is still huge for its time but I don't think it affected sales that much although I'm still not excusing it but this is Pokémon in 2019... as well as other IP's. You'd have thought with how heavy-handed Nintendo has been in protecting their older games by taking down ROM sites etc that they'd be a little bit more keen to protect their modern games... or maybe they've just decided that they can't do anything about it so why bother? This will only hurt their bottom line though so you'd think they'd be a bit more concerned.

Amazing... so Nintendo are only all too happy to send copies out to just about any random YouTube channel so long as they have enough followers, regardless of whether or not these channels or individuals have a proven track record? I mean, this isn't just breaking embargo or NDA but outright piracy and will there even be any legal action taken against the people who have decided to pirate it? I doubt it, either that or whoever has done it has weighed it up and done it anyway regardless of what happens.

Well, I got to play about an hour of this last night as I was pretty tired after playing Mario Kart and Smash. But just from that introduction I can tell that this is going to be a special game to play indeed. All the attention to detail is astonishing, I really had to look twice when the game loaded up for the first time, this is one of the best looking games I've seen on any system. I would have loved to have played some more but I decided to leave it until later today when I can hopefully aprpeciate it more, but I can't wait to play it properly later. 'M-M-M-Mario?' Charles Martinet really put everything into his vocal performance and it shows, I know the only spoken dialogue in cutscenes is the odd word here and there, but it just works so well, I've often enjoyed that about games within the Mario/Luigi universe as I think with a game like this, less is more and when all other aspects are delivered with equal levels of effectiveness, what you have is a very engaging game which really sucks you in and makes you want to play it from start to finish, enjoying everything it has to offer in the process. I haven't even had my first proper ghost encounter yet and I've already warmed to the game, there isn't really much more of a higher endorsement I can give it than that. Definitely deserving of its excellent review on the main page.

GoGoat in!

A Duck Hunt and Virtua Fighter tag-team combo K-O... now I've seen it all.

I had an Inkling that you'd win that one @Glen-i

That K-O from Luigi at the end was too funny.

The performance update for the Nintendo Switch version is live... Nintendo Switch Graphics and Performance Update The Nintendo Switch Improvement update is live! We know it took a while to get this update to you and we are very appreciative of your patience. There are four areas of improvement in version 1.03: Input Lag, Visual Quality, Crashes and Load Times. First off, input lag has been eliminated throughout the game. You will find the controls more responsive, making the game easier to navigate and enemies easier to fight. There are still a few areas that need optimizing that will be included in update 1.04. Visual quality has been improved so things look more clear and have more detail. Some examples below: Overall stability has been improved throughout the game. We have addressed several specific situations that have been causing crashes, most notably when reading books from a bookcase. Loading times have been reduced significantly, by up to 70% but there are still areas we'd like to improve. We will keep working to improve this on a room-by-room basis. Even more improvements are coming in update 1.04, so keep an eye on the news for that announcement! Happy Halloween indeed.

Last Gamer with a video on Games to play on Halloween which has some good pics in there. I'm generally not too fussed with absolutely playing something themed on Halloween but it is nice to sometimes. This year it will be Luigi's Mansion 3 but then it kind of has to be.

Sega Lord X with a video on Sega Mega Drive movie tie-in games with some really interesting examples as well as plenty of travesties. I now know for sure which film games will be staying in my collection and which ones won't when I get around to going through my Mega Drive games. I've played quite a few of these back in the day and some of them didn't seem as bad back then but looking at them now... it's like seeing them again with a fresh perspective.

It's probably because of the plush, did you order it at the same time as the game? Mine arrived in flat, sturdy cardboard as it was the game, steelbook and the keychain. I welcome the extra packaging sometimes as it's handy to have some extra boxes for posting stuff.

Oh yeah, definitely fuck Konami for killing off all of their known franchises and letting Kojima go like that, it's their loss though. I wish that I could say I was hyped but I'm not really, I'd probably go into it with zero hype or expectations... which for a Kojima game, indeed his first solo effort sounds impossible. But I think that's the best way being that we've seen so much in the form of cutscenes but know very little about the actual gameplay aside from... walking and driving. And something which looks like a combat system but I'm not sure on how practical it will be. I do think that it will be high quality, whatever it turns out to be but games can be highly polished and end up ultimately being not that engaging. Let's at least hope it lives up to the hype.

Good to hear. It's weird, in 2015 I was at least intruiged, in 2018 I was thinking that I'd probably buy the game, but now? I just don't know... Plus there are so many other games either out or coming out that a few of them at least have to give. I fully expect this to sell well regardless though.

I've watched the launch trailer, it still doesn't show enough gameplay, I'm really wondering just how much actual gameplay will be in the game at this point. At least in the beginning, Metal Gear Solid had a decent amount of gameplay with a lot of cutscenes which were enjoyable enough. Death Stranding though... I just don't know, it looks like a videogame version of a film but for real this time, which is impressive but is the gameplay just going to be wandering around? I'll wait on the reviews, I hope that everyone who is there on day one enjoys it though.

Oh cool, glad to hear it! Yeah I do keep a look out for when the amiibo restocks happen, if I notice as they happen I'll try and post here before they sell out to let people know, half the time though most of them had already sold out before I'd even typed out the post to say that they're available. I still keep a look out for when they list the new ones for Super Smash Bros. amiibo set because I'm all in for those now and I don't want to miss out. It's going to be odd when the Smash Bros set is complete... although, what am I saying? It will never be complete due to the dlc characters being added in the future, it was all part of Nintendo's plan all along to keep us buying the amiibo figures, I should have known this would happen. Still, I can't wait to get the Banjo & Kazooie amiibo figure, until then the Totaku figure will have to do. (guh-huh!)

Which ones are you missing? I know it's not much use now but they did have another restock the other day, a lot of them sold out really quickly though.

Bayonetta turns 10 years old today! Smashing! Time to bump the old Bayonetta 1+2 thread from nearly a year ago? Absolutely!

Is the event over? Did I miss out on this seemingly hideous theme? I kind of still want it... bit if I've missed it then oh well...

Yes, I did. Very much looking forward to getting it, then putting it in the huge box full of other video game books that I Kickstarted over the years. Half serious... but when I have more time and a bit more space I'm planning on reading through them all.

It feels like a slow news week, so I'm wondering when the next Nintendo Direct might be. I mean, it is Halloween week and there's plenty to play, so I'm not complaining, it's jsut that when things start to slow down a little bit, that's when we usually get a Direct. Is it too far fetched to expect one this week? If not then November I reckon. Anyway, if not then... what's everyone going to be playing on their Switch this Thursday? (besides Smash and Mario Kario of course) Is everyone going to be playing Luigi's Mansion 3?