RupeeClock

I have to wonder if they deliberately omit what problems they fixed, so you can't know what issues there were to begin with.

That's actually cool, considering if you look on their Twitter posts promoting the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, you'll see there's fan demand for the game getting Spanish and Italian language support.
Star Force 3 originally skipped out on a European release altogether, so this is the first time that specific title is getting a European release.

@mlt
The Terminator 2D physical release date is tomorrow, and I've not had yet another Amazon email telling me it's delayed, so...!

@Mando44646
$5 is a sale price for the first week, it'll be $10 when not on sale.
That upgrade pack sale price ends today, actually.

Huh, so they're selling that lovely Metroid ice cube tray over here too after all? Sweet, I saw a lot of interest in that when the other Metroid merch got listed, it was a strange omission.

I was holding out for the Switch 2 physical, but when I saw I could grab the Switch 1 physical for £40 and the upgrade pack for £5 (both on sale), I went for it and was very pleased with that choice.

ICYMI, Halo 3 winning GOTY is an in-joke about a viral tweet they made earlier this year.
https://x.com/gamestop/status/1975232521349853314#m
"A GameStop in Colorado still has the Halo 3 mural up from 2007"
"We’ll take it down when something better comes out."
Props on their winning post using the same artwork as their Colorado store.

@Jireland92 @shgamer
I mean, this doesn't even seem like the fault of the studios or the IPs, but of WB Games horrendous management.
A project like Multiversus should have been gold, but was squandered with a terrible freemium model and doing a complete engine rework of an already launched game, atop of the decision to not launch it on Nintendo systems where it would've probably had the most appeal.
Whereas Hogwarts Legacy has been a relative success because it kept things straightforward, a premium single player experience for consoles.

What does that really say when Netflix has its own Mobile Games service?

@Susurrus
From what I understand, Replaylee is such a drastic overhaul that it's effectively a new game.

I'm looking forward to my physical copy arriving in a couple weeks time, but if the 60 FPS performance update isn't ready by the time the game is in my hands I might put it off.
I will however check out the demo in the meantime, since I've been eager to play this one.

@MegaVel91
It's worth mentioning that there are skillsets that can be applied to AI outputs, but it's a very different skillset from producing artworks.
It's more about editing, compositing, directing, in similar way that you fine tune parameters for rendering images in 3D software like Blender, work with layers in Photoshop or other raster graphics software. There are emerging skillsets of capable editors with no drawing ability, but different capabilities with graphics software and still have a discerning eye to reduce or eliminate mistakes whilst aiming for consistency.

That however is often NOT what is happening, and instead of someone working with an AI toolsuite to take the time to make something good, they find an online image generation service, type in a poorly thought out prompt, and may pick the "best result" out of the first four unrefined generations and slap that on their products.

And this of course, still doesn't excuse that generative AIs primarily work on data processed without permission, whether that be someone's meticulous artwork, or random comments on web discussions.

This needn't be overly complex.
Generative AI is the controversial one, using illicitly sourced data to generate derivative slop. This is the corner-cutting and human omitting part of creative work that really gets under people's skin, to the point there is massive backlash when your entertainment product is suspected of using AI slop.
It's troubling that AI generative imagery is advancing to the point that the "look" is recognisable but the actual quality is hard to discern, so actual human works that resemble a potential AI output gets scrutinised unfairly.

AI overall as machine learning to revolutionise internal data structures and studies is another thing. The new elaborate tooling and advanced computational techniques that allow for data modeling studies and planning not possible a decade ago, and you can see "Machine Learning" as a credit emerging in games already.
As a matter of fact, Hirokazi Matsuda has an R&D / Machine Learning credit for Donkey Kong Bananza, and they've been working as a programmer at Nintendo since Galaxy (2007).

Just in case, there's also a fancy new Metroid 4 pin badge available for 600 platinum points.
https://my.nintendo.com/news/d61e9075ea55c98b

Oh that's an arm cannon plush toy? I thought it was an arm cannon water bottle for a moment.
Edit: Taking a closer look at that "Metroid Gadget Organiser Case", it looks like a perfect fit for a 3DS or some other retro handheld, though it doesn't list dimensions the interior photo gives a good idea of what'll fit.

12:30am in the UK isn't so bad, previous years I recall it started at much later hours.

Watching The Game Awards itself isn't so interesting, it's a glorified ad campaign where the actual awards are sprinkled inbetween ads with only a few seconds of attention and virtually no fanfare. It's more fun to watch a restream with another Twitch streamer doing their own coverage.

Throw in some irrelevant high budget musical number, some awkward sponsorships, and appearances from The Muppets and Hideo Kojima for good measure, and that's The Game Awards.
Maybe a commercial from Nintendo reminding you that the Switch "Has Games", and some anti-smoking or anti-vaping ads from Truth.

@PikaPhantom
Pokémon Friends is in fact a reskinned 2016 mobile puzzle game, originally called "Think! Think!".
https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-friends-reskin-mobile-game-2016/

@1Kismet
We've definitely seen Switch 1 footage of the game, since we got the reveal trailer before the Switch 2 was officially revealed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMAgmdR8jwU
I recall Digital Foundry did a breakdown of this trailer, too, and that they concluded that it probably was Switch 1 hardware.

@Rob3008
Whilst its typing hasn't changed, it seems to have an emphasis on its steel typing over its fighting typing this time around.

I dig it, they could've gotten this very wrong but as a remix it's an effective inversion of its usual traits.

Don't discount the possibility, or probability of it being a human focused film.
The Knuckles series had a greater focus on Wade Whipple than it did on Knuckles himself.

Though, it does seem more likely to be a film that'll focus on events that don't occur on Earth, for a change. That might even be the natural progression of the films as they continue to expand the roster of original series characters.

It's worth mentioning that fax machines were, and still are a significant thing in Japan. They prefer the physical paper documents for important business, and has been standard in their office work since the early 1980s.

It was apparently also instrumental for overseas business between Japan and America, during the NES and SNES days where email and internet communications for sending data and graphic or video media abroad were not yet available or commonplace.

@Bobb
That's what I imagine, too.
Since the Ultra Wormholes in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, each new entry has had lots of in-game methods of catching legendary Pokémon from previous generations.

That, and Hoopa's whole thing is that it can just summons legendaries from its hoops, so the alternative is that it really enjoys the special donut and summons that specific legendary Pokémon inside or outside of a Mega Space.

In-game artwork for these same donuts were already revealed on the official website two weeks ago, alongside the first major trailer for the Mega Dimension DLC.
https://legends.pokemon.com/en-us/news/new_allies

@kkslider5552000
Probably a last-ditch effort to squeeze out a few more sales, since the DLC sales probably dropped to practically nothing by now.

I like how they acknowledged that the walls are just a suggestion in Vampire Survivors.

@Nintoz
Well, Black Friday sales is always a solid time to get new microSD cards that's for sure.

@Nintendontyouknow
Well it depends, can they shoehorn a roguelike mode into a Mario Kart game, when the game doesn't have any character upgrades based progression like Bananza or Pokémon?

What about Metroid Prime 4, is that gonna have a roguelike mode DLC? Or maybe Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment?
We know Kirby Air Riders won't, Sakurai was upfront that there'd be no DLC.

I might indulge, those platinum points are just gonna expire otherwise anyway.
I prefer the physical rewards that aren't just printed paper though, and I don't actually use calendars.

I guess that's one side of things I've seen for Mega Starmie.
The other side has been the absolute opposite, drenched in absurd power scaling masculinity by transforming Starmie into the legendary Super Saiyan Broly.
https://x.com/X7zt3VNjEB87395/status/1989936564315849199
https://youtu.be/FKt6V-TFUq8

Finally, I can hide the "Wario's aroma of the day" posts.

@ElkinFencer10
Really, the two major flaws are the "tap the amiibo" functionality (completely unnecessary and counterproductive), and the general lack of engagement in the main board game mode.
There isn't really any decision making to make, you advance spaces and watch events without actual mini-games. The extent of the decision making you can make was limited to the stalk market, and that was it really.

The Island Rescue mini-game was good enough though that they pulled it into the Welcome amiibo update for New Leaf.

How much of a failure was amiibo festival?
Well, I remember leftover stock was being sold in Poundland thrift stores for £5. That includes the game, the big box, the two amiibo figures for Isabelle and Digby, and three exclusive villager amiibo cards. That's how much they struggled to shift stock.

@Orpheus79V
Yeah, Bowser Jr using the magic brush to have a "Wonder"-like form instead of turning into Shadow Mario, is an interesting approach since they're skipping Sunshine.
I noticed the magic brush also has Bowser Jr's emblem, not E. Gadd's logo, so E. Gadd continues to not appear.
Maybe we'll get him for a future Luigi's Mansion movie?

@TheSaneInsanity
Why not? Mega Man and Proto Man already did it, they got a whole race track too!

I'd like to upgrade from my 256gb microSD express, and Black Friday deals have historically had record lows for flash memory and set a precdent for new low prices.
So, yeah I'll definitely be taking a look come Black Friday for a 512gb microSD express card.
I had a look on Amazon UK earlier, and saw a lot of Gigastone branded cards that I've never heard of, but I did see a 512gb SandDisk card.

@TheExile285
There's also that there's no Mineru amiibo yet.
One's been announced for Mineru's construct, but not shown or dated.

Well, this seems like a concrete confirmation that the Ganon, Wolf Link, and Epona villagers won't be returning, since their respective amiibos invite Tulin or Mineru instead.

Cece and Viché on the other hand, are technically returning characters, but this time they're cosplaying as Deep Cut's Shiver and Frye, rather than the Squid Sisters Callie and Marie.

Glad to see it, I'll wait to grab the Switch 2 physical since it's fully on-cart.
Now if SEGA could go and do similar for all the other Sonic games on Switch, give them Switch 2 upgrade paths or updates.
Sonic Frontiers needs it badly, and Game-Key release of Sonic x Shadow Generations is a tragedy.

It's a relatively small thing, but Xenoblade Chronicles has a small side quest involving a shifty individual asking you to gather suspect materials, which culminates in a surprise fireworks display intended to lift the spirits of Colony 9 during difficult times.
Xenoblade X then also has a much more fleshed out fireworks side quest, where you're trying to lift the spirits of a Nopon elder. Even the fireworks display has Nopon shapes!

Since Nintendo is now targeting development for a much more powerful 4K capable hardware, that'll result in longer development cycles. It makes sense that they need more development power to make that happen, whether that's to support the development of their flagship tentpole releases, or to fill out their catalogue of new titles every other month.

They're more than likely working on the next tentpole Legend of Zelda instalment right now, and have been since Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom had completed. BotW already had a particularly long development cycle, the successor may be even longer than that.

This is a keen reminder that Frontiers and Superstars would both strongly benefit from Switch 2 releases.
Both games have lacking performance or visuals on Switch 1 hardware, Superstars is at least 60 FPS but is locked to 720p with a lot of graphical cut-backs.

Probably not, I got my fill of New Horizons, and the game was lacking the magic that New Leaf had.
By the time I stopped playing, all I was doing was a daily grind of routine checks and nook miles earnings, and wasn't actually doing anything meaningful since the doll house aspect of the game wasn't really for me.
New Leaf didn't put a massive priority on the doll house part over the rest of the game like New Horizons does, like it didn't give you virtually full control over the town and who lives there.

Switch 2 Editions that don't bundle previous DLCs, like for Breath of the Wild, is such a pain.
Suppose you got one of those BotW releases that has the DLC, but wanted a physical Switch 2 Edition copy.
If you want to play the Switch 2 Edition with the DLC, you're either buying the upgrade pack to use for your Switch 1 physical with DLC, or you're buying the DLC expansion pass to use with your Switch 2 Edition physical.

I'm worried Smash Ultimate, if that ever gets a Switch 2 Edition, will be just as bad. I don't believe there ever was a DLC bundle physical release with both fighters passes.
A possible Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Switch 2 Edition would probably be one that doesn't include the Booster Course Pass, too...
It's probably so Nintendo can keep the price of the physical item down without letting its value (and grey market worth) get too high.

Huh, I've seen that cover plenty of times, but taking a closer look at this face that's possibly not teeth, but his upper lip.
Now I can't unsee that and it looks straaaange.

@thesilverbrick
They didn't mention anything about loading times, but I'd imagine they'd be significantly improved, at least on the digital versions.
Physical game cards are much slower than internal storage, and online loading times when players connect will probably still be just as painful.

The megaphone I recall was a feature in New Leaf, so it's cute to include it just because they can.

GameChat is probably the biggest feature though, it'll drastically improve online interaction when players don't need to type into a chat with an onscreen or connected keyboard, and don't need to use that forsaken NSO mobile app for voice chat.

@TrogdorTheBurninator
The mouse controls only appear to be a reimplementation of the touch screen controls anyway, so you're not losing much.

I'm surprised I'm not seeing any complaints about the frame rate remaining 30 FPS, but considering the local and online multiplayer with the Switch 1 version, it was probably unavoidable due to logic or engine implementation.

Now bring on the Switch 2 Edition of Smash Ultimate!

@HammerGalladeBro
This is actually AVGN's second time on LRG, the first time around was AVGN Adventures 1+2 Deluxe.

The wealth of new content looks great, though all on the "doll-house" aspect of the game and primarily just adding new furniture and places to decorate. When you look at it critically, there's not really many new activities to do, just upgrades to existing activities.

Tulin and Mineru being villagers is hilarious though. I thought they were going to mention Epona, Wolf Link, and Ganon as returning villagers if you scan their amiibo, though.

No mention in the article of the Retroware selection of games coming to LRG, for some reason.
That includes stuff like AVGN 8-Bit, Neon Inferno, Toxic Crusaders, Iron Meat, and Prison City. That last one is a hidden gem if you're into 8-bit style stuff.
Iron Meat did already get a physical release through Strictly Limited Games, but it sold out pretty quickly!