Cashews

Oy vey this one looked amazing. Music was sooooooo good.

I won't buy another pokemon game until they shape up.

@RBRTMNZ goofy post. would you like me to explain how inflation works - and why it can help drive profits on quarterlies or would you rather be ignorant about it?

This is off topic )somewhat) but Hi Fi Rush is one of the best, if not the best, rhythm game ever made.

A surprise Donkey Kong game would be fun.

I assume the real reason for inflation is the same as it is here in my US home. Money over-supply during covid and out of control government subsidies. The countries with nagging +5% inflation haven't done anything about it in terms of their central banks - while the US - the world's largest economy - has put the squeeze on the rest of the world with their much higher federal funds rate.

Here is the good news. We yanks used to be told all of time how dumb we were compared to Europeans. It is good to know the people of Europe are just as stupid as we are if they believe Beyonce and Zelda are responsible for 10% yoy inflation.

Lol a 5th anniversary. How long will it last, 3 minutes? Light a tea candle at the memorial corner I guess? This company gets goofier every day.

@Olmectron Microsoft had their showcase streaming in select movie theaters last week. It was free and I think they put out a few snacks on the house.

@Friendly it will be noteworthy when they attempt to sell one division off. Which is what I think the point of this is. MS is drastically overpaying for Activision. EA heads who have been collecting stock options for years want that.

Sell EA sports - your family is rich for generations.

I have no expectations on this round - I'm just going to enjoy it. I do hope they shadow drop Fashion Dreamer so my kids have a summer game besides Pikmin.

I'd love some huge NSO/NSO+ announcements. Those are really my favorites since I'm on it anyway.

@Fizza I didn't buy either game because I hate Rabbids so much. No part of them is endearing or humorous to me. My children also hate them. I really don't get why Ubi continues to push them. I get why they need a kid friendly character - maybe development Rayman more. People like Rayman characters.

I do not think the normal illumination style would lend to Zelda at all. In fact - the recent Sony/Spiderman artstyle would lend much better to Zelda imho. Or something out of left field. I'd love to see ToonLink - that would make so many people mad - that would be half the fun.

He should really stop talking now. No one has any respect for Ubisoft any longer. They are an ongoing joke. He doesn't want to burn bridges with companies that have clout by putting out info on Switch 2 dates. Which he essentially just did.

Awesome! I am super glad they didn't skip out! Surprise us and knock it out of the park Nintendo!

How in the heck do you use spoiler tags on here?

@nocdaes I can 1up your thought - why should 16 be difficult? SE is supposedly in the video game making business. Why is making a video game, their only flagship title left besides dragon quest, so hard for them?

I assume SE trying to make a new phone would be difficult. They don't do that. In much the same way professional basketball would be difficult for me. Writing a cheap story about palace intrigue and magic crystals, putting in some hackneyed introspective piano when someone loses their sword of the chosen one and slapping some NFTs in the code should be easy for SE. Updating graphics on a story already written should be mailed in. It will be - that's all SE does - remakes.

@Yalloo I love Bayo 3. But Origins was a very fresh take on the heroine. The art style was like no game before it. The music, which has barely been mentioned on the blogs, is probably the best soundtrack of any video game ever made. The derivative, twinkly piano bulls*** that every fan who doesn't have an ounce of real taste fawns over that you get in the likes of most RPGs isn't even close. The collect gems for upgrades loop isn't the best. While the combat is extremely fun - it isn't on par with normal Bayo. I wish they added a ranking system for normal level and above - even online leaderboards - but I also get why they didn't. But it was fun none-the-less.

i think the final boss sequences is one of the finest I've ever played in any game. I beat the SPOILER and I was like dern that was a good boss. Oh wait it isn't over there is another 3 wave boss. GD THERE IS ONE AFTER THIS ONE TOO.

I was generally suprised at multiple plot twists. The story really was equally for kids and adults. Extremely well crafted. That said, the game took me forever to beat because I did play it with my kids. They adored it. My 8 year old is at 50% on her Easy mode playthrough right now.

Would I award it goty? I wouldn't. But I would have it in my list of nominees with this year's best. The game was a 9/10. Bayo 3 was also a 9/10. Great game; not as epic as 1 and 2.

I think Platinum really screwed up the release of the game. They should have shelved it for a year. Got people really wanting another Bayo. They had the two releases way too close together.

@ALinkttPresent You can not like Breath of the Wild. You cannot be taken seriously if you say it "one of the worst of all time".

Three scenarios there. 1) you are looking to be super edgey
2) you haven't played many games over the years or 3) you are dumb.

I wasn't head over heels for botw- but I know it's a good game.

@BANJO get Bayo Origins too. Imo it is better than Bayo 3.. One of the best games of the year easy. Just finished it with my kids last night and we were blown away at the last few chapters. NL's 7/10 score was objectively wrong.

@Not_Soos Covid hit Japanese production as hard or harder than anyone. It likely added 2 years to the development process for TotK.

Meatboy style platformers are way too intense for me and my old, battered hands.

@ArcadianLegend99 Sony cares far too much what the rest of the world thinks of it. They seem to care little what their homebase thinks of it - and have suffered accordingly.

The world needs Japan to be Japan. It's a better place for it.

I don't think the building mechanic looks fun - so I won't be playing it. However, the hype did make me focus on BotW so I'm playing that in earnest for the first time and enjoying it.

After playing Hi Fi Rush for the first time yesterday I have amended what I think are the best games of the year for myself and what other people have been showing. TotK, Bayonetta Origins, Hi Fi Rush, Street Fighter and if Starfield delivers what it has shown - Starfield. Maybe a dark horse like Exoprimal will enter the fray.

It wants to make you think of vaginas. After looking at the picture the title was successful. I understood that Vulvehicles was euphemism for female genitalia. I assume you ride around and shoot things in a vulva-based weaponized car.

@luckyseven I think the early Splay plaza should have been a freebie for everyone. No way I'd pay for that one.

I took a really long time wrapping this one up - because I played it with my kids. The ending was frankly full of twists and the insane bosses and QT event present in Bayo 1-3 were here in spades. The story gave so much insight into the lore - especially Bayo 3's Luka and Chesh.

With the amount of incredibly average indies you guys toss an 8 to every time there is no way this game is the less of those. Literally no way. This game was better than Bayo 3 - and I absolutely adore Bayo 3.

So far - this is the year's best Switch game I have played. From what I see on the horizon only Pikmin can possibly take it out.

The game is a 9 from me. About 23 hours and I'm at 76%. Without spoiling - there is a bit of replay value. Not a ton but a bit.

Wave 1 dlc was straight up garbage. Horrible and embarrassing.

I love being sold the same games over and over again.

I'm confident in saying I will only be playing Street Fighter 6 World Tour - preparing for the eventual move to online battles. So far the RPG is much better than I could have hoped for in a fighter.

Also toying around with gamepass - seeing whats on it. I haven't booted up an xbox in around 12 years so it all feel new and fresh.

It's funny though people complain about the Switch UI a lot. I appreciate it's simplicity more than that of the X series. The X is more robust of course but it's also convoluted with ads and nonsense I don't want.

I'm a dad so I expect to be mostly ignored tomorrow. Which is actually ideal.

Y'all almost wrote an article without Kit and Kyrsta. Congrats for almost making it.

I guess they don't have a lot of faith in the new pokes to be releasing this so early in the cycle. I cannot blame them - I don't either.

@WhiteTrashGuy if you are being honest with yourself then yes - it is a huge waste of money. I used to buy games on sale on Steam constantly - to barely ever, if at all, play them. It is a waste of resources and it nags at your brain that you either 1) need to play these things when you really don't even want to or 2) could have spent it on anything else.

I keep it to myself but the constant foruming of "well if it weren't for this backlog I might just..." like it's a job. Treating a backlog like it is a point of pride or something you just have to do before you enjoy life is patently ridiculous. Frankly it's sad. I know, because gd have I been there in a real, addictive and harmful way. Still am in some sense.

@larryisaman it moved the needle by soundly defeating Disney. His is an obvious shot at Disney and Disney alone. Along with Spiderman It buried Guardians and Little Mermaid.

Film makers are sick and tired of the comic/cartoon machine of Disney and are happy when something outside of that decade-long norm breaks loose. I think people are simply happy when Disney fails. I am I know. I want them to lose in order for better art to be produced again. The landscape is dismal.

Let's see how the latest Pixar "What if Elements had...feelings?!?" formula does.

I'd add the No More Heroes series and Deadly Premonition 2 to this list. They only very seldom go on sale - once maybe twice a year. Most of the games on this list are fine - but they spend most of the year on sale.

High Praise - I thought his Pinocchio was the best animated film of the ...many years. The 'making of' mini movie of how he made all of the figures was almost as entertaining as the movie itself.

super talented dude.

@Bass_X0 that and the stock market absolutely loves subscription numbers.

@AngelSlayer they never resonated with me. tbh, I think Suda is kind of like a benchwarmer for developers like Platinum. Similar style - but they don't play nearly as tight.
Damned played like a Godhand/Bayonetta mashup to me.

That said I loved the first No More Heroes.

@Wexter I have no clue. I guess you rationalize anything that is important to you.
I bought a series X this week. It is in dead last place by an enormous margin. Do I care? No, I bought it for it's pipeline. I hope it does well so that pipeline increases. If it doesn't I have the game I bought it for - SF6 (and probably Starfield by the looks of it).
Nintendo dominating this gen has been fantastic for gamers. It is a preservation beast. Who could have imagined all of these super hard to find shmups, among many other genres, would have been ported over en masse like this? They wouldn't have if the Switch sold 30M units.

@Serpenterror sony fanboy's new argument for their choice console's failure is the Switch won last gen. Which is objectively stupid. I've read it multiple times this week. They have a very weird hive mind thing going on.

@Mgalens I agree you should have been able to keep your Wii U purchases. That is annoying at the very least.

It will be a big deal to me if they don;t add backwards comp. somehow with the next system. They should add another slot for these little carts and another one for the new games. All eshop purchase move with you. Forever preferrably.

There are no two ways about it - the last few releases for the online service have been stellar. I was sour on the the 3 GBA Mario's that released at first - but I played the SNES versions alongside them and now I'm pretty into the improvements.

This thing is showing value now. I only recently joined MS's gamepass and while it has a lot of benefits - seeing the games leave the service like every week is a real bummer.

I personally think Nintendo's service is the best of the three. Sony's is a garbo sandwich.

@SBandy1 best time of the year! find a place to take a dip! cheers!

@FirstEmperor @SBrandy1
Christ almighty fellows I haven't been this discussed in a while. Y'all seem to remember what I said a week or so ago more than I did.

I did think it would hit number 1. I was surprised at it's Japan sales last week I probably said as much. I was making the point it probably sold most digitally - by Capcom's design.

But who knows - maybe totk sold 10x more digitally. I don't have any dogs in this fight I am not a stock holder in neither company. just chatting. I like both companies very much.

David Lynch's final film. Allow him one more chance to make a big 100M budget movie before reincarnation.

Development houses are creating again because covid is done obviously. X|S and PS5 released at worst possible time. And they lost lost two years in development at a normal rate.

@Mr_Zurkon I wish I could replace my 3DS with a new retail one if mine breaks one day.

@CharlieGirl the original was kind of a prototype for Namco. Before Katamari's release gaming mags promoted it a little. Said it was trying a strategy of less intensive games at a discount price point. $20 was the original price of the boxed game. Which, if you think about, is very risky - the margin on that has to be dismal back in those days of no digital at all.

I don't think they expected Katamari to become such a big hit - not in the us at least. Heck, they didn't even bother selling it in europe and aussieland. I 100% do not believe they'd still be making the game two decades later.

@GrailUK Shadow was made by Sony - it will never come to Nintendo. i think Breath of the Wild was an homage to that game - both in Hyrule, the horse (the whistle was almost exactly the same even) and Divine Beasts. Maybe the best we can do for now.