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Having finished TTYD earlier this week, I feel a little sad, but all good things must come to an end. It's definitely in my top 5 favourite games of all time. The care and attention they put into the remake is extraordinary. The credits list 30 people working on the lighting alone, and it shows.

After finishing such an epic game, I feel like going for some lighter stuff. This weekend, I'm playing Horizon Chase Turbo and Wave Race Blue Storm. The latter through Dolphin. The graphics hold up well, set the internal render resolution to 1080p and you basically have a remastered version.

Like others already said, it will be $399 at most.

Entertaining the notion that it will be $499 for a moment, it would need some substantial features to justify the extra cost. For example, 8 inch OLED, Hall effect Joy-Cons, better speakers or an extra GPU in the dock to improve docked performance.

With the Olympics over, more time for gaming, so TTYD. Been playing it on and off since launch. Hope to finish the game before the end of the month. That will leave some time to clear some of the backlog in time for Zelda. (Less than 6 weeks to go!)

Also, Turok 2. Played only for a bit, but I can already tell it's a great 90s shooter. Hint: it's still on sale.

Have a good weekend everyone!

@Rhaoulos As a workaround, you could use DekuDeals. They show the Metacritic rating in the sidebar.

Yep, just bought Turok 2. No idea when I'll get around to actually playing it, but for that price, I couldn't resist.

Only played Turok 1, actually, on PC back in the day. It came packed in with the Voodoo Rush, if anyone remembers that. It was my first exposure to hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and I was floored. Great times.

@AccessibleDaydream @TheBigK, Banana Rumble is the one to get for single-player. The multiplayer is, frankly, terrible.

if you happen to have a GameCube, or a Wii that can play GC games, SMB1 or 2. Those have great single and multiplayer.

For me, strategy game sequels are less appealing, because the bigger scope also means more time commitment for what is, usually, still the same type of gameplay. Heist is a great game, but I've had my fill with the first. Skipped Mario + Rabbids 2 for the same reason.

Bought the physical this week, so the main campaign is on the backlog. Perhaps I'll play the DLC right afterwards.

Watching the Olympics mostly, but some Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble adventure mode here and there. Pure videogame fun. No level is finished without at least the golden banana.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Played the demo for 5 mins on Steam Deck and was impressed. It does nail the feel and the art style gives it more personality than the average indie racer. I'm a bit skeptical of a Switch port being able to reach stable 60fps, seeing that it's an Unreal Engine game.

My only complaint is that there's no Collector's edition. The one for Link's Awakening remake had an art book. I would have loved to see a more in-depth look at the concepts and iterations they went through. But who knows? Maybe there will be a dedicated art book if the game turns out to be wildly successful beyond expectations.

Not sure if the game will have many different weather styles, but I love the sunny setting, and the deep, contrasting shadows they're showing in this trailer. So looking forward to this.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. The perfect game for the Summer.

They put their heart and soul in the single player. The levels strike the right balance between difficulty (from Neon Arena onwards), replayability and simply being fun to play. The catchy soundtrack is just icing on the cake.

Have a great weekend everyone!

@gcunit They do care about image and prestige, just not necessarily about having made the best-selling console of all time.

Facts: 1) No console price cut 2) No Nintendo Selects this generation 3) First-party titles on sale for 33% off at most, and typically 2 years after their original release. See where this is going? They want to position themselves as a premium brand. That's what their image and prestige is based on.

@johnedwin If Nintendo cared as much as you do, they would have dropped the price already to meet that sales target. They don't have to, because they still have plenty of cash on hand.

In the longer term, it's more important for Nintendo to maintain their "premium" image, especially going into the next generation. The underlying message being that there's no point in waiting for a price cut.

It's good to see the OLED being the best-selling of the 3 models, showing that presumably more casual users are willing to pay a premium.

Farewell North releases in 2 weeks. Played the demo on Steam Deck and it's interesting enough, if you're in the mood for an emotional (dog) walking sim.

At least this edition can be called a genuine "indie" in the sense that it has not found mainstream success. Not being mainstream should be a badge of honour for an indie.

@Not_Soos It's a way to keep the game in the spotlight. Patches/updates are just part of marketing nowadays. And the strategy is working, because here we are, talking about the game again.

EDIT: and the marketing is working on me, because I just ordered the physical. In it mainly for the single player, so with the physics tick rate fix, there's no reason to delay. Monkey Ball is the perfect "Summer" game.

Good to hear they fixed it. Back on the wishlist it goes.

@roboshort Fair use takes into account commercial purposes. One party is profiting off work from the other without due compensation. Again, these models would not exist without copyrighted material being used to train them.

The fact that copyright law does not provide sufficient clarity is exactly the reason why this matter needs to be settled.

Playing various demos on Steam Deck. It's nice to dabble and not have to commit. The game that I do commit to is still TTYD.

Have a good weekend everyone!

@roboshort The legal issue is whether using copyrighted material to train AI is considered "fair use". In the US, there's the ongoing case of NYT vs OpenAI.

Fair use does factor in commercial vs non-commercial/educational purposes. If there's money involved, things are weighed differently. Needless to say, there's a lot of money involved in AI.

As @nessisonett already pointed out, these models would not exist without copyrighted works. The AI industry wants a free lunch. It's good that this is challenged legally.

I'm expecting cross-gen compatibility for the first few years. So a New 3DS-like situation that doesn't require you to upgrade immediately to play the latest games. I hope to hang on to the OLED for a few more years.

In terms of specs, I'm hoping for a screen that can also output at 40Hz or, even better, is VRR-capable. Anyone with a Steam Deck can attest that 40FPS is quite decent. Perfect performance target for portable play.

@Not_Soos Thanks for taking the time to write your post. I agree 100%. These players are still young and young people say some pretty dumb things sometimes. They reflect the world they're growing up in, so there's a lesson for everyone here.

Nintendo's response looks more like brand protection, tbh. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but in the better scenario they would give these players a chance to apologise in public. Maybe they did reach out before making this decision, we don't have the full context.

@Hck Look at Argentina winning the Copa America and their racist chants afterwards. They haven't been stripped of their title. And Fernandez at least apologised for his behaviour.

I don't know if Nintendo gave these Splatoon players a chance to make an apology? Only goes to show that e-sports are mostly about marketing.

Super Rare Shorts sounds like an excellent idea. First time I'm hearing about it. Shame about the backlash.

Timed exclusivity is a great way to spotlight a title. And if you miss out, then it's not like there aren't enough other games available.

I used to collect 12-inches back in the 80s, so same idea. Having media available at all times (i.e. downloads, streaming) makes media consumption too casual if you ask me. You can't have everything in life.

These companies understand that retail presence remains important. What makes a better impression? A physical case on a store shelf or some thumbnail on a web page? Even if you end up buying the game digital, physical makes for excellent marketing.

GameCube is my favourite console generation, but I skipped TTYD back then, because I'm not into RPGs. Glad to get a second chance with the remaster, as I'm enjoying the heck out of it. The RPG elements are pretty light, tbh.

@Gorlock I loved Link's Awakening so much I traded my physical for the collector's edition after completing it. I'll defend this game as if my life depends on it. 😉

What I'm trying to say, you're missing out on a fantastic game.

Yeah, the FPS drops are noticeable, sure, but happen mainly while loading in new areas. As long as you don't rush through the game, the FPS drops should be minimal.

Fast RMX and The Touryst are not first party exclusives, as their headline suggests. It makes it seem like there aren't enough first-party exclusives to make this list, tbh.

I do agree with LM3 being the best-looking Switch game, purely from a visual and animation perspective. Going to replay it on the OLED this autumn.

Personally, I think Link's Awakening and Bowser's Fury belong on this list as well, but I guess the frame rate drops in these games make it unacceptable for the DF crowd.

Yooka-Laylee is a great choice! The game itself is really good, but what makes it particularly memorable are the humour and soundtrack.

Bought a Steam Deck for game development, as it's a target platform for the game that I'm working on. Naturally, I wanted to try out a few games. Not a PC user, so only have a handful of titles in my Steam and GOG libraries, namely Half-Life 1, Thief 2 and Skyrim. While it's impressive what they've achieved, the Deck is not a substitute for gaming on the Switch.

On the Switch side, more TTYD. Not making much progress, though, taking it slow.

Have a good weekend everyone!

The review seems to be in line with my own experience playing the demo (Steam Deck). It borrows the mechanics from survival horror games, so that explains why it's marketed as such. War is horror, of course, but they are not exploiting that angle, just using WW1 as a setting.

Why all the negative comments? Releasing a new official accessory means they intend to support the joy-cons for several more years. That is good news. The Switch is not dead.

@Altaria_97 Thanks for checking. Shame it's not fixed. Worst case: they can't fix it, because of the impact on performance or networking.

@Altaria_97 Can you, or anyone else reading this, do us a favour and check if the update fixes the judder? Thanks. It looks more like a release build oversight, where physics interpolation (Unity) is left disabled by mistake. I can't imagine playtesting without physics interpolation, tbh, since it's extremely noticeable. Don't have the game myself yet, but if the judder is not fixed, I'm going to skip it altogether.

@anoyonmus All I can say it's a jet ski racing game. Its source of inspiration should be obvious. 😉

@anoyonmus Grid runs well on Switch. Don't have it installed right now, but, IIRC, it has a "performance" mode that gets you close enough to 60fps. Fun fact: it's one of the few games with dedicated support for the GameCube controller's analog triggers.

Always interested in indie racers, since I'm developing one myself.

Looks like it's console-exclusive to Switch, so they might have accommodated the lack of analog triggers.

The dev has a gameplay video (Switch-only footage) with commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5KNWE_zxy4

@scully1888 noticed a typo: "so developers tend to give Nintendo's system a mess when making their own serious racers."

Back then, the HUD following the curvature of the visor was the prime visual innovation. This looks to be more of a refinement, tbh.

Took a break from Switch to play RoboCop Rogue City on XSS. Completed the last boss fight, but, after making the final choice, the game crashed to the dashboard. The first thought that came to mind was that there was some sort of fourth wall-breaking storytelling going on, as Robo does experience various system glitches as part of the plot. But, no, that would have been too radical a departure from the dumb-but-fun 80s action movie clichés, because, in keeping with the game's overall jankiness, the crash turned out to be a bug. Watched the ending on YouTube just to get it over with.

So back on TTYD. Taking my time with each chapter, because I want to catch as many of Goombella's snarky comments as possible.

Have a good weekend everyone!

@Ryu_Niiyama Fair enough, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

Not being listed in the game credits as a contractor is unfortunate, but just part of how the business operates. They don't see contractors as real contributors, compared to employees, I guess.

However, if I understand the article correctly, you're not allowed to list the experience on your CV after the game's release? That seems needlessly draconian. What NDA-worthy secrets are you divulging by listing your contribution to an already-released game on your CV?

There are indeed fundamental architecture limitations that @Discostew mentioned, so there's not much they can do to improve things, even if they wanted to.

That said, I feel that that there's no real incentive for Nintendo to improve the e-shop experience either. They know how important retail presence is, so digital continues to play second fiddle to physical. I don't expect that to change in next gen either. The major first-party titles are still easy to find.

Second, the big sale events are mostly for third-party and indies, as first-party titles rarely have more than 33% discount. During a sale, people are more willing to put up with a janky experience. Or just use DekuDeals.

I can enjoy horror games, as long as they're campy and don't veer into nastiness. So Resident Evil 1,2 ,3, 4 are up my alley, while RE7 is something I stopped playing after half an hour.

While it's intriguing that Nintendo is, apparently, developing a first-party game for mature audiences, I'd need more info on the game itself to get interested.

This is making me nostalgic. Flight games used to be much more popular in the late 80s and early 90s. We had Afterburner in the arcades and the Microprose flight sims on PC.

I'm expecting New 3DS-like cross-gen compatibility in the first few years, so less incentive to buy the new console at launch. So I think it will enjoy continued success, but not on the same level as this generation. Switch was an entirely new concept back in 2017 and we had a video game boom during Covid.

Good write-up. The mention of them being able to genuinely surprise, by not communicating too much, is absolutely spot-on. The last Direct showed the effectiveness of that approach.

@Chinesus At least they now have extra money for legal fees.

@Not_Soos Missed the game back in the day and enjoying the heck out of it.

That said, I think Mario, as a brand, is too saturated to make any of its spin-off titles too big of a success, regardless of their individual quality. I'm not familiar with Pokemon, tbh, but I don't think it has many spin-offs that stray from its core formula.

This will be my only playthrough, so I find myself taking my time with each chapter to make sure I catch as many of Goombella's comments as possible. Aside from her lines, the smack-talking in chapter 4 is especially entertaining.