Kingy

I enjoyed two of the three games I have for it, so there's that.
Overpriced and underwhelming is all I can really say about Switch 2. Hopefully 2026 will be more promising.

Lol some stiff competition down at the bottom

So are the people gassing up Mario Kart World eventually going to admit that it's trash when the next Mario Kart comes out? That always seems to be the play, denigrate the previous game (or games) in favor of new product.
Release year Mario Kart 8 is leagues ahead of World, all the best tracks in the game were there from the start. The only critical feature missing from it at the time was 200cc, which came a year later (and is EXCLUDED from MKW funny that).
And the only major flaw with release MK8 is that it's battle mode was *****. But you're not allowed to complain about that, because MKW copy and pasted that same ***** battle mode... 8 YEARS AFTER MK8 DELUXE HAD FIXED IT!!
Enough with the revisionist history for the benefit of your sloppy $500 line game, it's gross.

.....also why is Rolling Stone doing a best video games list, aren't they a music or celebrity magazine or something?

Will be grabbing this as soon as the physical releases

No two City Trials I've done has felt the same, and that's thanks to all the little nooks and crannys on the map and a large variation of terrain, events and stadiums.
Now, who can say if I'll feel the same 100 hours later but this really wasn't an issue in the original Air Ride either. It was the rest of the game that couldn't match City Trial.
With Air Riders I feel like all the other modes (except arguably Top Ride to an extent) are now on par with City Trial's quality, it's a far more balanced game.

I'd bet if City Trial had a second map, people would be saying "why not three", and four, five, and onward. That's just how we've been tailored to think with these "live service" always online, always shuffling in new content kind of games.

The open world turned me off from the game, and a bunch of yammering tutorials wearing human skin aren't exactly enticing me back in.

Making my way through the Dragon Quest II Remake which I'm enjoying A LOT more than the first one. Having multiple party members obviously makes the new bosses and souped up enemies more enjoyable to fight. But what I'm enjoying the most is the frequent new dialogue between the main characters.
Arguably the worst part about the first three games is that they have a very rudimentary story and practically no characters.
The DQIII remake did basically nothing to rectify this, it's pretty much just as shallow as the original. DQI on the other hand adds quite a lot to its story, but most of it is superfluous and doesn't really add anything but busywork to the thin narrative. Princess Gwaelin's contribution to the cutscenes if you keep her with you was a treat however.
DQII has your cousins chiming in a lot, and I think it's nearly bringing the game on par with the series best. The Prince of Cannock is an absolute sweetheart.

Other than that I'll be plugging through more Kirby Air Riders achievements and maybe even finish the story mode. The game is a blast, I could do City Trials all day and never get tired of it.
I've been on and off Haunting Ground because honestly I'm just not that into it. I didn't really care for Clock Tower 3 either so that probably should've been expected.
And maybe I'll finally get back to Hollow Knight and finally finish it.

Unfortunately I'm addicted to Umamusume again after a new update and some time away from the game. My previous veteran team is very lacking and will be spending the rest of their retirement in the glue factory

Partners in Time isn't the greatest but I respect it for what it is. This was back when Mario games were allowed to have an edge, I will cherish that era

Solid high 7, fast tracking to an 8 just cause I haven't put much time into single player.

All three multi-player modes are a blast, super chaotic and addictive. Customization is awesome, every play session is capped off with some new demented machine being created. The checklist is as satisfying as it always is.
I don't really have any complaints about Air Riders, it's just plain simple fun with that Sakurai brand of style and spectacle.
On track to best Switch 2 game of the lot I'd say, at least for now.

@Flashlink99 Mike Haggar to clean the bombed out streets of Raccoon City

My roommate and I created a very sultry Patrick Star in a bunny suit and stilettos

The triumphant return of Steve Burnside

At this point I'm just buying whatever few games actually come with a game in them lol. Adding this to the calendar

@iLikeUrAttitude @Spider-Kev "Samus just moved *****... with her FREAKING MIND!!" - Marvel McChucklemeister

Not a fan of the hideous Switch 2 Edition blurb at the bottom, but I'll probably pick this up.

Nice, first two games are decent so I am definitely interested in this. All I've seen and heard about Little Nightmares 3 is that it's crap, or mediocre at best. Glad we didn't need to wait too long for this one

He's the Clark Kent that transforms behind the nearest KOF arcade cabinet.

This game will sell 10 copies and I'll be one of them! First time in months my Switch 2 will see the light of day!

Resident Evil is very much a grab bag of quality. Based on everything I've seen I'm going into this game assuming it won't be great.
They can always prove me wrong, I thought RE4R was going to be crap but was pleasantly surprised with how great it was despite its warts.
Buuuut... RE4R was also using one of the best games of all time as a base. Whereas Requiem looks like it's closer to 7 & Village, which are very much not. So guess we'll see.
Best range I can hope for is "as good as RE7 to not as terrible as Village".

Tomb Raider Reboot was the game that convinced me to buy a PS3 back in 2012. I only had Nintendo consoles beforehand but for whatever reason E3 Tomb Raider gameplay absolutely blew me away.

The game did not disappoint (though I haven't played it since the year it came out), but furthermore it essentially introduced me to one of my favorite consoles. The PS3 kicks ass.

Dead or Alive 5, Dragon Age Origins & Dragon Age II, Arkham Asylum, Catherine, Portal 2, Uncharted, Dragon's Crown, Dead Space, Devil May Cry, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, RE5, Red Dead Redemption, Ni no Kuni, Rayman Origins!
And that's not even considering the massive library of PS1/PS2 on the store, that's how I was introduced to masterpieces like RE2 and Final Fantasy IX.
Thanks Tomb Raider Reboot

Any other year I'd pick this up day one, but we've had so many back to back to back releases I'm afraid Demonschool will need to wait in the dreaded backlog

Hades II slipped my mind when making my predictions. Surprised not seeing Split Fiction on here, I was expecting KCDII to get snubbed.
Obviously these awards don't mean anything but for what it's worth this is a stronger list compared to other years.
I can't even remember last year's nominees, all I know is that Unicorn Overlord wasn't one of em, for shame.

As far as video game movie adaptation goes they could look a hell of a lot worse.

This is one of the lists of all time for sure

Plenty of deserving games on here, some others not so much. And some criminal omissions (no Pikmin 2, no Resident Evil Remake, no Explorers of Sky, no Radiant Historia, Dragon Quest III, V, IX, pretty sure I never saw Bowser’s Inside Story or Metroid Fusion)
Also yeah, the order is wacky as hell, though tbf I'd probably have a hard time ordering them too.
About what I was expecting from IGN.

Indies knocked it out of the park this year. Completely eclipsed AAA offerings

@Migoshuro You too, have a good night!

@Migoshuro (2/2) "We would never use the fill tool" is what I said originally as what I think Necrosoft's statement amounts to. It's a tool, it's there to be used. You don't have to use it and you ought not to because it will never reach the heights of hand painting. But the fill tool is not going anwhere and using your lack of use of it for public grandstanding I find, like I said before- childish and irritating.

Now, to be fair, I made this statement from a different framework from yours. I look Necrosoft's quote and see "We're better artists and people than Embark because we don't use AI", whereas you see "We stand against the schemes of big tech companies and stand with the little guy".

We just don't see eye to eye there. I think it's a tad overdramatic, I think it's struggling in vain against neverending technological advancement, I don't think anyone is owed a job in any industry, at this point I don't think you're telling anyone anything they don't already know, and - like many social issues- I think most people care much less about it than they say they do and are more interested in the aesthetic of goodness.
Not saying that last one applies to you, but just with Nintendo fans, I won't pretend that's not what I believe about the majority of people who talk about this.

Hope this better explains where I'm coming from than my last comment. Obviously we're not going to agree on this because our foundations for it are not the same, but I figure since you are engaging the argument you deserve a better reposnse than ***** slinging, sorry about that.

Edit: Also apologies I needed to split the comment in two

@Migoshuro (1/2) Firstly just to clarify, you've got "AI White Knights" backwards. It refers to people who are so insufferably pro-AI that they pretend there aren't any drawbacks to it whatsoever. Your Shadiversitys of the world for example, if you recognize that name.

To expand on what I was saying because I could've been clearer instead of ranting about Nintendo fans in general (I apologize for that). I fundamentally disagree with your premise regarding Embark here. The TTS AI they're using is based on voice actors they hired for the project. It isn't stealing from anyone and it didn't take anyone's job. They're using it because, similar - NOT literally the same, as I have to constantly qualify - but similarly to Tomodachi Life, they're using it because they want to implement a large number of voice lines that would otherwise be impossible or infeasibly expensive to produce authentically. This is what I'm drawing the comparison from.
I do not agree that these two examples are different enough to warrant you defending one and admonishing the other, because ultimately they're using different technologies to create the same thing - canned lines from a robot. Which, if your principle here is "think of the poor VAs that aren't being hired because of this" - you'd have to condemn both.
And yes, my assumption - here at least - will always be because of favoritism for Nintendo. You can call it presumptive and immature, uncouth even! I can't even argue with that because it is. But that's what I think and I won't pretend otherwise, and I believe I've seen enough examples of fanboyisms in the past that my assumptions are justified. But for the sake of the argument you can disregard it because at the end of the day it's just ranting.

You can disagree with Embark's reasoning and/or methods, but ultimately companies and creatives are not obligated to employ the services of anyone. If AI really is bound to obsolete genuine voice acting (which to be clear, I don't think it will), then that says more about the wider industry than it really does one developer's niche-case use of it.

@Migoshuro Well aware of the concerns dude, I see comments like yours about it all the time. Doesn't change anything I've said here.
It's a tool, it's here to stay, the people who are affected in the industry will adapt or die and there's nothing either of us can do about that.
You can spin it any way you want but brass tacks is that Arc Raiders and Tomodachi Life are both games that use computer voices in place of real voice actors. They're using it for the same exact reason and apply it in similar ways, you've just decided that Nintendo's is good and Embark's is bad.

Which was what I was getting at by making the comparison in the first place, as much as the community here claims they're for the people, as soon as Nintendo does it they change tune.
Mark my words when Nintendo inevitably adopts genAI, 70% of this site's forum users and 100% of its staff will become staunch advocates for it, or at the very least they'll start to tolerate it. I know that sounds pessimistic, but that's just how Nintendo fans are.

Similar to my initial complaint with Necrosoft's statement. It's performative. They only said it to appear morally superior to Embark/Nexon, and that's childish and irritating.
Idk, typing this out I'm thinking maybe this argument is pointless. I don't even particularly like AI art, and bleeding hearts will be on the internet with or without it. Why do I even care, there's no reason for me to fight with people on this lol

@Erigen Okay but I'm not using that comparison generally, I'm using it for the very specific rhetoric of this article, which IS Arc Raiders.
I never said TTS and AI voices are the same.

@SillyG Yeah, I agree - if you have a script it ought to be voiced by real people. In that case I'd argue for no voice acting before AI voice acting any day.
As I understand it Arc Raiders does use genuine voice actors for some part of the game, I assume whatever scripted dialogue it has. But on top of that the AI generates unscripted dialogue too which would obviously be impossible to voice act authentically.

@Erigen This isn't a criticism of Tomodachi Life, I like the weird TTS voices. But it's still a dialogue heavy game that doesn't include human voice actors. So if that's YOUR criticism of Arc Raiders, you'd be a hypocrite.

I don't care about games like Arc Raiders but I'm guessing story and characters aren't its priority? So if the company and playerbase are okay with flat, mediocre AI voices and computer generated dialogue then there's not really an issue here. As long as I had the option to turn it off I wouldn't have a problem with it either.

@Erigen Because the criticism is that Embark forgone actual voice actors in place of a computer system. Which is what Tomodachi Life does as well. It doesn't need to be the same system to reach the same outcome.

Okay? I swear, everytime I think I hate AI white knights enough, I'm reminded that there's another, bigger contingent of people who virtue signal their lack of AI use like I'm supposed to care.

"Here at Necrosoft, we would neeeeever use the fill tool, yeeees." Alright? I don't give a *****. Who asked? Clearly this works on some people, but to use @Dogorilla's excellent point, you'll all buy Tomodachi Life next year and you won't make a peep about the TTS voices.

Whether they do it for Pikmin 4 or a spin-off game, they NEED to give us a custom cave editor and a hub for sharing them ala Mario Maker.
That's the big thing that would get me to return to 4, it's otherwise the weakest of the four games.

Not really crazy about any of the movie designs, but it's not bad for what it is

Continuing and hopefully finishing the Dragon Quest I Remake. Not a huge fan on how they handled this one all things considered, I'm hopeful the DQII Remake is the game that benefits from all the new additions because DQI certainly does not.

Look, I can appreciate Byleth being squeezed into a tiny little outfit as much as anyone else...

But that doesn't change that Felix won me that dancing competition... and he enjoyed it

This is only really an issue if you're exclusively buying from the same handful of industry giants. Indie games have effectively filled the role of the weird / experimental AA games of the past. It's not a perfect replacement, I miss the Sony and Squaresoft of yesteryear same as anyone else- but I guarantee you whatever wacky idea you have in your head, there has been or will be a game for it.

IGN: The arbiter of good takes.

Might make a list of my own for the fun of it, Nintendo might be the only company where it's hard to narrow it down to only 100, and that's before considering third party exclusives.

@kal_el_07241 Fair enough, but still early enough to be announced and almost certainly finisned pre-release given its December release date.
And $30 for looks like the equivalent of the spatial rifts from Legends Arceus. Unless, do you know if there's going to be more later? I've forgotten the details from the direct.

In any case, not convinced that you're getting your money's worth of content here as is. Same with DK Bananza's DLC and a lot of the Switch 2 editions, seems like minimal content at a premium price tag is Nintendo's new strategy to squeeze as much money out of their fans as humanly possible.

@Olmectron Refer to the first half of comment #76 please

And no, I don't think that excuses the third version of the gen 1-4 (and 7) games but they also aren't comparable to this.
Z-A DLC doesn't improve anything, the only thing that makes it definitive is that you now definitively have all the content they spliced out and sold back to you for nearly half the price of the base game.

I'd take a Platinum over that any day, though tbh if they were still pulling that bs now I probably wouldn't buy that either.

@kal_el_07241 Yeah SV. I haven't played Z-A yet

@kal_el_07241 I'd argue anyone who buys both versions of a Pokémon game are likely to pay ANY amount of money for whatever they put out, and that most people are reasonable and just buy one or the other.
But I looked it up and one copy of Scarlet or Violet plus its $35 DLC is only $5 cheaper than Legends Z-A here, which is deplorable.
Nintendo would have to pay ME $100 to ever play that piece of ***** game again

Your $100 Pokémon game everyone.

I do wonder what percentage from the Switch 1's massive install base are the type to buy everything Nintendo no matter what.

Seems a bit too early to celebrate with that in mind.

Don't much care for DQI remake at all really. I was excited to see how enemy mobs would add complexity to an otherwise extremely simple game, but all it really does is draw out the battles longer.

I don't think any of the new story and bosses particularly add much of value to the experience.
Just about everything that made the original game unique has been scrubbed out to make a clunkier, worse version of every other Dragon Quest.
Very disappointed, fingers crossed that DQII saves it.

What am I not playing, I've piled up too many games!
After playing through all the Clock Tower games I decided to extend it with Haunting Ground, Rule of Rose, and NightCry, so I'll be getting to those in the coming weeks, starting with Haunting Ground tonight.
Btw here's how I rank the series
1. Clock Tower 2 (aka Clock Tower PS1) - 6.0
2. Clock Tower (SFC) - 6.0
3. Clock Tower 3 - 4.0 // Not a good game but has a lot of heart and entertainment value with the crackhead cutscenes
4. Clock Tower: Ghost Head (aka Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within) - 2.0 // ***** this game, it's unironically one of the worst things I've ever played

For Halloween night I played a cool horror game called No, I'm not a Human, where you invite a bunch of ghoulish creeps into your home and deduce which ones are monsters and which ones are moderately more normal. Pretty chill despite the concept and plenty of replay value with multiple endings, I like it.

I've got the Dragon Quest I & II remake sitting next to the PS5 waiting to be played, and Hollow Knight has been neglected for weeks lol. I'm going to have to reacclimate myself to the game while fighting endgame bosses, that should be fun. Might start up Ninja Gaiden Black too if time allows.

LRG not getting another dime from me, but looking forward to DoubleShake whenever it comes out next year.

Also Little Goody Two Shoes is a remarkable visual novel / adventure game for anyone who hasn't played it.