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When, I think it was @mjmooney, posted about this in another thread, I was going to make a not so sarcastic reply that Trois Couleurs Bleu is far superior. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I look at the whole list and find it doesn't even made the top 100! At least Pierrot le Fou does.

I tried the Forspoken demo on PS5. Pros. It's a very generous demo, no time limit, gives you a really rather large map to traverse, with some map markers you're steered towards, others you aren't, so you can just take it at a very leisurely pace if you want to. A variety of difficulty modifiers and options with regards to how the dodging mechanic works, auto switching to support magic that isn't cooling down, that sort of thing. The very meme-able trailers may put some off, but the incidental conversation which can occur (pre battle, post battle, environment specific, sometimes seemingly random) didn't grate at all for me. In fact quite the opposite in some regards - the Cuff (your snarky permanent companion) will call out upcoming mobs almost certainly before you see them, the idea being you scan them, try and discern a weakness, and then hit them. That worked well for me. The positive with combat that I found is that once you get in to the flow of it, it's fine, but you're also encouraged to score better during each battle, and when you do you gain XP or item drop boosts. A simple mechanic, but a welcome one. You can save during the demo, drop it, and pick it back up when you like which is nice. The last demo I recall like this was DQXI. It didn't really feel like a 'demo', but a proper slice of the game. Cons. You're given a relatively well powered character, with many abilities unlocked on the skill tree, and XP does seem to come awfully easy, so it doesn't take long at all to feel as though you're an all powerful god like being. Specifically once you start upgrading the Clock and Necklace (which you can with ease in the demo, unclear if the same will be true in the full game), and you figure our the boosts available from the nail paint equips. So, even with the assists turned off (which I did in a conscious effort to try and learn the combat), nothing seemed to be much of a challenge. It had been suggest based on previous videos that this was a re-skinned FFXV, the main grip with the open world of that game being that it was an empty husk. This doesn't seem quite as bad, but it's not exactly the most engaging open world, far from it - in fact you could level some fair accusations of Ubisoft-itis. A much as the 'parkour' (it isn't parkour!) has been made to look cool - and the animations do give a fair amount of visual flair - it's very much style over substance. Essentially it's just a sprint and climb function with a cooldown. The bad part is the climbing of cliffs. You can more or less climb what appear to be impassable cliffs, as long as you can 'land' on shallower ledges. It feels a bit like going up a cliff in Elder Scrolls* And the biggest grip is performance and visuals. The lack of loading times is welcome, sure. Outside of performance mode it looks fine, but never even close to spectacular. In performance mode it looks like a very much like a last gen game. Funnily enough, very similar to FFXV. *I accept I may be missing something with the mechanic, and there's a better way to traverse!

Mike Flanagan - Director and Writer of Hush, Haunting of Hill House, Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, Midnight Club plus the movie versions of Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, amongst others - has spoken this week about his desire to get the Dark Tower TV show done on Amazon. His writing style takes heaps of influence from King, and his work on Doctor Sleep in particular was terrific I thought. In a way I'd prefer he be involved with versions of The Long Walk, The Institute, or even the more recently released Fairy Tale (absolute peak PG-13 King for me) which are all ripe for the small or big screen. The Dark Tower though...as a fully realised TV series spanning 5 series...with all of Amazon's money...don't do that. Don't give me hope. Especially when Amazon's record isn't exactly great with big budget adaptations of much loved fantasy and sci fi.

Possibly the best translated version of the new trailer out there at moment Release date is 22/06/23, pre order's are up and there are various editions of course, with some items. It's been confirmed that there won't be a permanent party throughout the game, but it will chop and change - and there will be time skips too. It looks a lot more like an 'Ivalice' game than many other FFs - XII and XIV included - in terms of tone, and the developers have spoken a little bit about considering whether or not it was going to carry the FF name. Well, it is, and I'm really excited by the fact that there are some risks being taken here. ...yes I'm aware it wouldn't take much at all for me to be excited by a new FF title...

I've just posted a trailer for Behemoth in the Gaming 2022 thread as it happens - announced as a VR2 game over night at the Game Awards

Game of the year thing yesterday. Elden Ring won I think, something about Bill Clinton, I don't know. The stuff people care about more about, trailers of course. A series which I never fancied trying, I did like the old Mech Warrior and Front Mission games...but this was a whole different kettle of fish Having not played the first game, I have no idea what's going on here...but perhaps no one does! Either way, pretty neat teaser I'm a fan of Don't nod's work, so I'm interesting in this one. Their non-Life is Strange work has been...mixed. Difficult to discern an awful lot here, but it appears to be a fantasy action RPG. Always in awe of Horizon's art direction, the big tentacle / kraken enemy at the end here looks particularly cool Is this the 'big' VR2 game we've all (not) been waiting for...? Bit of an Elden Ring / Shadow of the Colossus vibe Super Crash Bros There's some other stuff too, but I'll leave it with this one - Forspoken PS5 demo announcement. I'll hopefully have chance to give it a go today, it really needed a demo, given the questionable marketing so far.

Hellman's do it, as well other new varieties Hell indeed.

"It's what nanny's are for!" Heard that one a few times recently.

Twiglet sandwich for lunch today.

Do whatever you need to do to keep your family healthy pal.

It's probably luck. Actually, I'm sure it is. We were just like any other first time parents finding our way via advice, books, and YouTube. We didn't implement all of those tips obviously, but something must have worked!

My daughter just turned 2. We're thinking when we get the access to 30 hours childcare (Jan '24) we'll try for another one once my girlfriend will almost certainly go back to full time then. If you'd have asked me a year ago I probably would have said the same as you! She's an utter joy at the moment, now things like eating and sleeping have settled down to some sort of normality.

A shame when the OST is really good, would like to hear some more of it in the show / trailers. I concede that the nature of soundtracks on TV versus video games is very different though, but then, there is a lot more cross over in modern gaming than there used to be (the TLOU composer - who is working on the show too - has won two Oscars for example, and Bear McCreary's work is fantastic). On the plus side, the latest trailer does reinforce that the casting appears to be spot on, although...(don't read if you intend to watch the show but have not played the game)

I do. I think it's the awful, vomit enducing, slow version of take on me I can't see (hear) past.

Thought he had black hair?

Good lord, I absolutely hated almost everything about that.

Pretty disappointing Callisto Project reviews. Lack of gameplay diversity seems to have hurt it, and although there are lots of variety in environment, it very much seems to be 'run down corridor and kill enemy'.

Ah, not quite. They lured the hoard to the 'posh' bit of town, a gated community, and that's what they blew up. There hasn't actually been any suggestion at all that the fuel supply is scarce in the Commonwealth. It was a really frustrating final season though, I found. There was an occasional sense of urgency which matched the show when it was at it's peak, plus the introduction of smart/evolved walkers was something they should have done to energise the show a bit years ago. If they can tie together the story threads from World Beyond and the end of the main show, that would interest me. WB 2 was probably the best the franchise has been since Fear was at it's peak (it has since dropped off a cliff). Do the three spin offs and then maybe one last 6 episode run to bring it all together - the origin of the virus in France, the communities from the main show, Rick's escape from the CR - which you'd like to think would end with Rick being god-king of Planet Zombie - and done. That would suggest some sort of planning though, which we know there isn't. On the subject of Rosita, the reason she was the main one to go was because the producers basically said to the cast, we don't know what we're going to do with the majority of you after this season. The actress who plays Rosita didn't fancy that uncertainty, so opted to be offed.

It's been suggested in some areas of the fandom that the reference to it being the 'latest' album under the boris name isn't a perfect translation, and it would be more accurate to be 'last'. I mean, I do love the boris albums, but in recent years I've actually come to enjoy the Boris albums much more.

The final boris (lower case) release, it seems.

A surprise Boris album has just dropped oh shiiiiiiiiiiiii

Candy - Heaven is Here Wormrot - Hiss Just Mustard - Heart Under Petrol Girls - Baby Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems

That's barely even a 2021 game!

I spent a large proportion of the year trying to clear some games from my backlog, so my exposure to actual brand new 2022 games has been rather limited. The new releases on platforms I own that did stick out though are FFVI Pixel Remaster, Eiyuden Chronicles Rising, Lake, and Unpacking. Dishonourable mention goes to Ni No Kuni Cross Worlds. F*** you.

I'm very close to getting the Platinum for Like a Dragon / Yakuza 7 now - just the 'true' version of final millennium tower left to do. I spent some time levelling everyone to at least level 28 for every job, with all character levels being in the 90-92 range, and absolutely breezed the 'final' version. What a fantastic game. It makes me want to go back through the older ones and play them sequentially, as I never did play the remastered versions of 3-5. Not a chance though! Far too much of a time sink. I'd much rather plan the Judgement games, which I never got round to. Kiryu gets a 'gaiden' game next year to bridge the gap between Yakuza 6, 7, and 8, and then in 2024 we get Yakuza 8 which seemingly sees Ichi and Kiryu teaming up against some at this time unknown mutual enemy. Could be Bleach Japan? The scope of the antagonist's gets bigger with every passing game it seems (excluding 7), so some world ending threat seems the logical way to go. Although it's a series which has embraced the bizarre over the years, the actual main stories of each game have been relatively routed in political and gangland strife. A threat to the whole world though? I'm just gonna say it. Aliens. Or maybe, Americans. Suppose I'm going to have to get used to calling them Like a Dragon rather than Yakuza pretty soon, though...