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I'm not sure any of these measures are needed, it's not going to be cheap to send packs to get scanned so the only real cost effective things to scan will be vintage products. But for those products there isn't a very big market for buying individual sealed packs because there's enough easier scams that you could get caught by (like people just opening and regluing packs!)

If the scanning practice did get popular and profitable then people would stop buying packs and the market would disappear. And let's face it if you're sending packs off to try and scam others, there's every chance the scanning company could scam you in return!

I'm ready to move on to a new console, new games, exciting ports of games that the Switch missed out on.

But I think it's going to be too expensive for a while.

There's no reason for this to happen, you can even just have a separate credit section in the game menu to list credits if they're too long.

Maybe the localisation agencies don't want their talent headhunted away from them so don't let them have individual credit? Whatever the case it's scummy

I would also suggest that the release of the Switch 2 might even cause Switch 1 sales to rise if retailers discount their current stock to make way for the hot new thing.

I think we're far too close to the Switch 2 for there to be any huge surprises. In this day and age these things can't remain leak free with the huge manufacturing cycle required to make the console.

Text size is a nightmare worry tbh. Feel like the Switch has been an ideal 'play jrpg's in bed' machine, and small text really ruins this. Atelier Ryza 3 in handheld mode for me was unplayable, really hope this isn't the same.

It's a bit soon to be excited about the sequel when the first game hasn't released yet!

I hope I'll love the new setting and new characters, spent so long with the Cold Steel gang now that I'm going to miss them though.

@Anti-Matter yes it's coming to ps5 too https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/06/final-fantasy-creators-mobile-rpg-fantasian-is-journeying-to-ps5-ps4-this-year

I realise the series is completely unfriendly to new players with it even being impossible to play all games on one console system, but I do think it's quite cool that there exists a story focused long form game series, that's been going successfully for 20 years.

This was always likely with Nintendo, who half still see themselves as a toy seller. Physical sales are still popular around the world and especially popular as gifts for children (who are a core Nintendo audience).

For backwards compatability I'd be interested to know what the terms and conditions are for developers who sell games on the eshop. If you bought a game for the original Switch will that license be valid for the Switch 2 assuming backwards compatability is indeed coming? Or whether developers need to allow a free (or paid) upgrade path. Or not allow it at all of course.

Does Embracer have permanent rights to The Lord of the Rings IP, or will they have to change the name of Middle Earth Enterprises & Friends if they ever lose it?

Is that really the price point we're expecting for a Switch 2?

In some ways you could say the market has already decided that price point is unsustainable, now the majority of time spent gaming is in free to play games.

They will almost certainly never stop the old URLs from redirecting to the new ones. The costs of maintaining the old website URLs is barely anything for a company as big as Nintendo. Having someone else buy the addresses and potentially scam people would be vastly more damaging.

It's really nothing to get worked up about, it's just a poll, and has all the advantages and disadvantages of any poll.

It's a poll on the Bafta website, which is a niche location for many 'gamers' it's a more arts/film focused audience and will trend older and very British.

Surprise entries may be ones that have won bafta awards in the past and are more prominent in the memories of users of that website etc.

They are both great consoles, which sold the most is basically irrelevant unless you happen to be a website waiting for the day you can post your "Nintendo Switch becomes the best selling console ever" article!

Barring something being shadow dropped at Direct this is a quiet month for me. My wallet at least will be thankful!

Will continue to impatiently wait for Ys X, and Trails into Daybreak.

It begs the question what benefit an Xbox handheld would have over the other available options. Gamepass is available on other PC handhelds, so either they will compete on hardware price or exclusive Xbox back catalogue games.

A cheap easy to use handheld might have some appeal as Steam Decks etc tend to be a more enthusiast appeal. Not sure myself.

I wish I could take advantage of the Atelier Ryza 3 sale, the first 2 gane were just enjoyable comfy gaming. But I just cannot read the tiny subtitle text on the third game in handheld mode (which is the only way I use the Switch).

Strangely I can't see anywhere that TTYD has topped Amazon's best seller charts like the article suggests. It's only the 10th best seller Switch game in the UK, and 38th in the USA. Certainly not above Dragons Dogma. Seems odd.

Edit: It seems like the article this one is sourcing from (comicbook.com) has a link to the Best seller chart for upcoming games, but the chart is sorted by 'featured' rather than 'best sellers'. So TTYD isn't top after all (it's 12th)

It doesn't seem unreasonable that a large live service game based on the very popular DC universe might have the potential to be a huge gaming hit. But they based it on 4 minor characters the casual fan is barely aware of. Madness to even think who would greenlight such a risky prospect with the budget it got.

This is my most anticipated game that's been announced so far this year. Will be interesting to see what this new set of characters are like. Considering the sheer amount of characters in this series now it's a wonder that there are any new voice actors available to voice these roles!

It's probably tripped some kind of gambling filter for the eshop in Europe or something. Notably the game is rated 18 on the PlayStation store for "prominent gambling imagery".

The stupid thing in a lot of these cases is that these companies are profitable. Even with increased wages, costs of making games and everything else recently they still turn a profit, but just not enough of a profit for the ceo's end of year bonus payout, and the shareholders dividend.

So sacrifice a few workers wages so the higher ups can show they increased profit or cut costs this year, it's all very grim.

Are those bad numbers for a Trails game, or about normal I wonder?

Pokémon Legends: Victini

@vec42 It's rather awkwardly worded, but it means that only the PC version will have the option to use Japanese text. So a console version can use the Japanese voices but not have Japanese subtitles or Japanese text in the menus.

Ys Nordics and Trails through Daybreak are the two games I'm really looking forward to this year so far on Switch. Hopefully a direct will come along soon for some more excitement for this year

Really just want to see the launch lineup. I'm not going to be a day one buyer unless there is something amazing, I'd be very surprised if the big launch title isn't a 3d Mario but that doesn't float my boat.

If developers have have the devkits long enough I can see a whole plethora of ports coming that couldn't run on the original Switch. But I think I'll end up waiting till the next big Monolith soft title arrives.

Even if they exit the console scene, the chance of Gamepass being available on PS5 or Switch seems extremely remote. I'd expect them to push Gamepass (and cloud) on PC and mobile screens, whilst selling games traditionally on PS5 and Switch.

Though I also don't think they'll ditch Xbox quite yet, it'll have one more gen.

Weren't Monolith Soft meant to be making a medieval JRPG? Or was that just some baseless rumour?

It's going to be maybe the most massively overhyped and analysed Directs ever! There'll be a big "will they, won't they" hype over whether Switch 2 will be announced.

If it isn't announced we'll all look at the games shown, if they're not very exciting people will speculate that Switch 2 must be on the way soon.

If the games look amazing some will be excited for them, others will see it as a sign of no Switch 2 this year and be disappointed.

And if its somewhere in between no one will know what to think!

You use a mobile phone as a controller to play Just Dance on ps5

Probably just having a sword present makes is e10+ The same as Switch Sports getting the same ratings. No doubt there's an exception to that though

I feel we're a little light on rumours for it to be coming out before early 2025. I'm not in a big rush to upgrade yet, I can't think of any game that would make a new Switch a "must buy" coming anytime soon. I'm sure it'll release with a new 3d Mario but that's not too interesting to me and a new Zelda must be a long way away. Probably take a new Xenoblade for me to upgrade.

Realistically I think the only way this happens is if the Switch 2 has a bad launch, and Nintendo need to do some high-profile advertising. Even then I don't think Nintendo want their more family friendly ip's associated with a shooting game tbh

Im about to start Dragons Dogma on the Switch. Had a rpg itch and it has a sequel coming out in the future so I'm giving it a whirl!

And now we begin the wait for Ys Nordics to be released over here

@JJtheTexan Basically no-one will see the full benefit of Quake running at 1000fps as they will be limited by the refresh rate of their monitor. If you have a 144Hz monitor you won't see more than 144fps.

At a consumer level there are at least 360Hz monitors around, but you might be looking at upwards of $1000 for them (prices may be lower since I last looked a few months ago)

To me this is the reason why physical releases are still important. Yes it'd be preferable to have no plastic waste and transportation costs, but without competing digital shops and a way to download and backup your games in case your digital shop stops trading I really wouldn't want physical to disappear.

Nintendo eShop having a monopoly would be extremely expensive for consumers.

Interesting that although the game is already out in Japan it doesn't have a Switch version over there yet. Hopefully the new engine is not too taxing for the Switch because although "fine" Trails in Reverie did chug a little bit on the Switch

I think wouldn't nessecarily say this is Embracer restructuring, it's just the norm in video game development sadly. Developers are hired on a per project basis, when the game comes out a large number are then laid off.

@Wheatly Do you know whether it does gyro? Last time I looked at it it said gyro compatible. Which seems an odd way of describing it!

For all the talk of "Nintendo won't sell" these things are never certain forever. Shareholders ultimately hold the power on whether a company gets sold and if a majority of them see a huge profit it could happen...eventually.

Currently there is no where near the desire to sell amongst shareholders (the biggest stakeholders are Japanese) and government and regulators would surely shut any sale down. But never say never.

The game doesn't seem quite "99" enough for me, would love a game mode with no lap limit, you just steadily eliminate the back markers until there's one winner

In some ways it seems kind of staggering that in 2023 a 2d platforming-run-jump-collecting game will sell extremely well. And it'll be sold at the same price as all the mega budget "AAA" games. Just goes to show how varied the gaming world is, and how narrow a group of games that generally get the gaming media's attention.

At least you could be fairly sure they aren't using an ai generated voice, given how popular the voice actor profession is in Japan.

@Magic_Salmon_Pro Sounds like Wizkid

If they'd just released the game for ps4/ps5 I think the price would have been cheaper. The Switch port is what's making the price high because it's a new platform for the game and older games ported to Switch have been able to command a high price. The price will drop very quickly for playstation, and less quickly for Switch if I had to guess.