Flabyo wrote: June 4th, 2020, 11:46 am An achievement list has popped up for a remake of Kingdoms of Amalur.

Good game that was, once you get past the slightly overlong first act. It’s not far off where I wanted us to take the Fable combat system but we never did.

I was very excited when I saw this. I don't remember many specifics of the plot, but I remember really enjoying the game and will definitely be picking this version up. Probably not at launch, $40 seems a little steep, but we'll see how I feel on the day.

CrossCode finally got a console release date. 9th of July. Really enjoyed this when it came out on PC a few years ago, and felt like it didn't get the credit it deserved. I highly recommend people try this out. Great combat, clever and challenging puzzles, charming characters, fun use of genre tropes, and impressive consistency in quality across its surprisingly long runtime. It's also currently available as part of Xbox Game Pass on PC too.

That looks great man, and its on GamePass.

Sweet.

A few little bits of info have crept out about Solar Ash through the Playstation blog, written by Alex Preston, the game's director.

https://blog.playstation.com/2020/06/11 ... station-5/

One thing I've been kind of worried about this game being a roguelike, something that would be disappointing to me for various reasons, but which I suspected could be the case with this game. But trying to tease out some clues from this blog, it sounds like hopefully it's not. It talks about this game being a "bigger, grander world" than Hyper Light Drifter. To me those words sounds like things to describe a pre-defined consistent world that tries to create a sense of scope and scale. Something that algorithmically generated levels aren't generally made for. Also it mentions how movement plays a role in gameplay, as part of the challenge instead of just a fun way to get around, which I like the sound of too.

You have to feel for the poor staff at CEX at the moment:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020 ... es-re-open

This isn't the first story detailing management's really shoddy preparation for re-opening stores, and it seems like they're putting staff and customers at risk in order to get back up and running as soon as possible.

I understand retail has been hammered horribly by all of this and they must be feeling pretty desperate, but rushing into it half cocked and putting people's health in jeopardy is not on.

Anyone watching the EA Play conference tonight? I've missed proper E3 this year. I know there are still conferences, but I've even missed the thread with all the times and stuff and everyone talking about it. Hope it's back as normal next year

Alex79uk wrote: June 18th, 2020, 6:48 pm Anyone watching the EA Play conference tonight? I've missed proper E3 this year. I know there are still conferences, but I've even missed the thread with all the times and stuff and everyone talking about it. Hope it's back as normal next year

Will probably catch up with it after the fact but looking forward to seeing what their next gen offerings will be especially if they have more on Squadrons.

I really missed the thread for e3 this year. All the times etc.

Had its comforting excitement, it did.

Alex79uk wrote: June 18th, 2020, 6:48 pm I've missed proper E3 this year.

Yeah, for real.

What has already been a terrible year on many different fronts, E3 would certainly of brightened things a bit for me and been a good distraction.

I'd have missed it any year but this one seems to have stung extra I feel.

Perhaps it will be back next year.

I have a suspicion we won’t see a gathering like e3 again, everyone is going to learn what Nintendo already did, which is that a prerecorded fully managed presentation you have complete control over is far better at connecting to the modern streaming audience than a live show in front of an audience that can and usually does go wrong in some way.

Public shows like EGX, PAX and Gamescon will still happen, they’ve always been about more than just showing new games to the press. But these dedicated press only events were already feeling like an anachronism even before Covid lockdown.

I thought I would miss E3 more than I have, but I think I have preferred new announcements being drip fed throughout the past couple of months as it has meant there is always something to talk about rather than it all getting dumped in one week, with only the major announcements getting talked about. Smaller things get chance to breathe and get discussed.

I watched the trailer for Crash Bandicoot 4 yesterday and actually thought it looked really good, with some new gameplay features that take it beyond the original games. I saw some people complain that the pace of the trailer was too fast and frenetic which I can see but it didn't bother me too much. Really looking forward to it.

Agreed! Barely touched a Crash game in my life, but thought this looked a lot of fun and gorgeous too!

I expect this is something that only I care about, but I'm actually pretty excited for this. Nacon is teasing a press show for next week, and a couple things about it caught my attention.



They have already officially confirmed that this show will include the new game from Spiders, who most recently put out Greedfall, which I was pretty impressed by. I've not played their previous games, as they haven't had a great reception historically, but with Greedfall it felt like they managed to build to a point where they actually fulfilled their potential. So I'm hoping they can keep the ball rolling and this can be the start of a new era for the studio.

And another thing which seems to show up in that sizzle reel but hasn't been officially acknowledged yet, is something that looks like Test Drive Unlimited 3. Several years back this publisher announced they had acquired the IP and were planning to continue the series, so it seems pretty likely we're finally seeing that come to fruition. I have very fond memories of the old games, particularly the first, and it's been a long wait since we last saw a release. I'm really hoping a new entry can capture what those originals did.

I'd be well up for a new Test Drive Unlimited game

So that Nacon even happened, and we got a look at some potentially good things, including the stuff that was teased.

A new TDU has been confirmed, called Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown. No solid details yet, but the lead director is someone who has been involved with the previous games. Supposedly set on an island again which is going to be another 1:1 recreation like they did before with Oahu. Except they didn't say what island it is this time. Not really enough to go on so far to make any judgement.



The new Spiders game (Greedfall devs) is an RPG called Steelrising, set in an alternate history French revolution period where robots exist, and you play as one. Supposed to have a bigger action focus this time around, and more attention paid to verticality in traversal/world design. Very interesting setting and I like the sound of the gameplay philosophy too.



There was also a new Vampire: The Masquerade game. Another RPG, but this isn't Bloodlines 2. Again, not much detail, apart from there being three protagonists that you play as, which each give you a different perspective on the events of the story.



Full show here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8k55zQ924

Nice, good shout with Nacon

Shin Megami Nocturne

is getting a Switch port, coming Spring 2021.

Perhaps a good prompt to include it on next year's Cane & Rinse?

SMT V has a nebulous release date of 2021!

(I'll believe it when I see it)

Bulletstorm developer announces action adventure for PS5 and XB-SX.

https://www-eurogamer-net.cdn.ampprojec ... x-series-x

It's described as "a highly ambitious, groundbreaking action-adventure title that takes PCF's nearly two decades of development expertise in a new direction".

Bulletstorm was the best FPS I've played in the last 10 years, so count me in!

Didn't see this coming- the Two Guys From Andromeda's SpaceVenture is finally in beta:

https://kotaku.com/after-eight-years-sp ... 1844588393

--Dan