flighty

@ottoecamn While I totally agree with you about preferring games to be stylized (the number of trailers tonight that screamed THIS IS MADE IN UNREAL ENGINE was a huge bummer), what you need to remember is that the tomb raider games were all attempting realism to the degree that it was possible on the hardware at that time. That can seem stylized now due to the limitations such as the limited polygon count and more limited space for textures, but it looked impressive at the time.

I love the series and this was one of only a few highlights of the awards show trailers tonight.
That said.... a third Tomb Raider 1? Really? Is it so hard to come up with a fresh excuse to raid some tombs?

@LikelySatan "straight up lies" is a bit harsh. He immediately clarified what he meant by that in that "it feels like you are fighting the same two enemies over and over again" because there are literally 2 types of enemy that pose any sort of a threat and their variations feel very similar, and then there are fodder creatures that hardly qualify as combat.

@Scrubelicious If you want some facts as to why it might deserve a low rating, watch Skill Up's review.

Shovel Knight released 11 years ago. How is anyone surprised that one successful indie game that long ago isn't enough to pay for a studio and staff indefinitely? People not being able to make sense of that is far more concerning news to me!
Anyway, I've been eagerly waiting for Mina to release, and will be buying it day one.

The Mario Wonder DLC actually sounded like it was worth a bother. The Yoshi game will be a wait and see, as the only Yoshi game I've enjoyed in years was Wooly World. Glad to see Galaxy 2, but it would have been better if they had included it in a Switch 2 Edition update for 3D All-stars, and (obviously) made 3D All-stars available to purchase again (why did they even take it away?).
Making the Galaxy 1&2 bundle a separate 70$ purchase just makes so little sense. Between that and the $20 Donkey Kong Bananza DLC so soon after the game's release, I'm really missing Iwata and Reggie.

What if...
What if the patent office could fine you every time you try to patent something that is already widely in use by others?
What if you were banned from filing for patents for a period of time every time you tried to pull this stunt?

@topsekret Sure. I suppose I'm overly focused on the games that work, but I would have expected to have gotten a major performance patch by now. Stuff like Hyrule Warriors, which yes, is third party, but is also Legend of Zelda, so I would have expected it to be given some priority to be upgraded with better performance on Switch 2. Even if we're talking a DLC patch- that would put the game into the Switch 2 section of the eshop, which is currently a very short list. You'd expect more people wanting their games in there for the currently high exposure.

Was hoping to see fixes rolling out a bit more often, as well as more Switch 2 performance patches. I guess part of this is the lack of dev kits...

@TrogdorTheBurninator That's not an issue that needs to be fixed- it's a feature. This is a farming game (among other things) and you are expected to grow food. There are multiple ways to increase and replenish your stamina, including various foods, leveling up, and stardrops that permanently increase your maximum stamina. You also can get better tools that do more work faster and with less energy. This is based on the Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons games by the way. It's an established system of starting small and gradually overcoming your limitations.

(for the record, this game isn't really my cup of tea either, though I've given it a fair shot a few times)

@MirrorFate2 Shinobi has had cameo bosses in the past including Godzilla, the Terminator, Batman, and Spider-man.
Seems totally on-brand to me!

@Deljo As a fellow Steam Deck owner... these are all real issues. It's just not plug and play in the same way that the Switch is. Bluetooth connections can be fiddly (you can bypass this with a 8bitdo receiver or similar plugged into the dock). Last I heard, waking the device via bluetooth was disabled until further notice, so controllers can't wake the Deck--- and then there's aspect ratios.... It's a shame they didn't go for 16:9, but even then, most games remember what they were last played at, so you have to adjust resolution each time you play a game if you switch between handheld and docked play, and it could be even worse if you play the same game on a PC, because some devs have resolution settings included in what gets cloud synced, meaning you might also have to change the setting during your next PC session, or get stuck with the game trying to launch with an unplayably high resolution on Deck.
I absolutely love my Deck, but it's not a device I'm reaching for when friends visit. There's a time and place for a device that "just works" at a moments notice without setup.

@GrailUK lol the correct word is ergonomic 🤣
I have always hated playing the Switch as a handheld, but the Steam Deck is extremely comfortable to hold. With my Mechanism gaming pillow, I can get lost in a game for hours, sprawled out on the couch, with no discomfort at all. My Switch 2 won't get that kind of mileage until I buy a decent ergonomic grip / mount.

@Johnny44 off the top of my head I can't think of anything else that could be run on both devices to compare the graphics fairly. Cyberpunk is on both as well, but from what I heard it's not even possible to lower the graphics of the pc version low enough to be at the same level as the Switch 2 version, so there's no point comparing them running that game.

@SpiffBo ouch so many people misunderstand this, but emulation is entirely legal. It's only illegal to pirate the games, or distribute the copyright protected roms or means of obtaining them. There's actually plenty of room in there to emulate entirely legally... Which is why Nintendo has been on such a legal warpath to lock down any loopholes for the Switch generation of games, to the point that I know plenty of people mad at them for making life so difficult for the average customer lately, what with people needing to be worried that any secondhand purchase could be already banned from their services or lead to a ban.

@SpiffBo I hate to break it to you, but any PC will also readily play Nintendo games, whether Nintendo likes it or not.
But yeah, I'm right there with you (I think)- I got the Switch 2 for Nintendo's exclusives, and no technical comparison was going convince me not to.

I hope some form of easily swappable buttons becomes a standard feature for 8bitdo. I have friends and family who don't play much / as many consoles as I have, and their buttons matching on-screen prompts is a rather big deal for them when I hand them a controller.
8bitdo's controllers have been my go-to multi-platform controllers for years.

I'm not worried about the Switch 2 pro controller personally, as my Wii classic controller pro never had issues, my Wii U pro controller never had issues, and my Switch 1 pro controller never had issues.
I'm actually not eager to get the new model since I can continue to use the Switch 1 pro controller on the Switch 2.
They definitely aught to have designed it to be more serviceable though!

Dear Capcom,

Pretty sure I'll just be getting Satisfye's grip + case bundle for my Switch 2. Their grip was my favorite accessory for my original Switch. All I want is an ergonomic grip that doesn't need to be removed when I dock the console- Ideally with enough room for me to stick a Mechanism mount on the back so I can attach it to the gaming pillow.

Would be shocked if we don't also see shadow drops of Prime 2 & 3 before Prime 4 releases. Plenty of time left in that 2025 release window, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were pushed back yet again into early next year while we get Prime 2 & 3 remastered, along with whatever other surprises Nintendo has been keeping for us.
I'm in no hurry. We've been kept waiting this long, and I've got a decent backlog of games I've been holding off on for years in anticipation of better performance on Switch 2.

I find basically every Mario Kart to have had a fatal flaw that prevents it from being as good as later entries. 8 Deluxe easily is the best and most polished game so far, but World could take the top spot depending on what Nintendo does with it from here. The biggest issues it has could be fixed with maybe just two changes:
First, give us an extra lap around a course if a race includes the route from the previous course. Second, decrease how much speed we lose in the air. The speed loss in the air currently makes a huge amount of rails and jumps worse than just staying on the road, so why even have them there? Current time trial world records prove that the optimal path on most courses is quite boring.

This article feels like click-bait. I agree with others here in having never encountering anyone trying to make these arguments.
I love my Switch, and preordered Switch 2, but my Steam Deck and PC get far, far more play time. Nintendo is a big company, but it can still only put out some many games a year.
If a game I'm interested in exists on PC, I get it there, because I know I'll continue to be able to play it on my next PC, and the next, and the next... and I'll buy it for less than it costs on Switch.
The Steam Deck is absolutely for people who are comfortable with computers, because it IS a computer, and can do far more than play games, and in fact it's wild to see an argument trying to say what a Steam deck can't do. Again, it's a computer. All it needs is a new bit of software or another peripheral, and it can do anything you can think of, because it is a computer.
I don't care about the Deck's docked performance because that's what my PC is for, and if I want to play the latest AAA game on a handheld with the settings cranked to the max, then I just stream the game from my PC to my Deck.
I'm excited for the Switch 2. On the other hand, I also know that some of my favorite games will be trapped on it, just as has happened with every Nintendo console and handheld before it, but my PC (whatever that currently happens to be) will continue to be able to play all my games just as it has for the last few decades.
The PC doesn't have generations like consoles do, so I can expect my Steam Deck to continue to play most of the games being released for the foreseeable future, and be able to stream the rest from my PC. (Or stream from Xbox or PS5. Yes, it can do that too!)

Got my preorder in through Best Buy. Took them a full hour to get their site functional from all the traffic though!

It seems obvious to me that they want to get as many sales as possible from their new DK game, and announcing a new 3D Mario would cannibalize those sales.
They most likely have the next big Mario game ready and waiting for a Q4 holiday release.

Steam store page just popped up, soooo definitely getting it... there...
It'll be a day one purchase for me!

@Shade_Koopa it's not the committee so much as the introduction of tags to inform consumers of what accessibility options are available in games before purchase. The introduction of this system, only for Nintendo to not actually start providing those options, would be quite the bad look for them.

I am hopeful that this will give Nintendo the push they need to include more accessibility options in their games, as I feel they may be the largest name in gaming to provide next to no options in their games, accessibility-minded or otherwise.

I've got the game but never boot up the 360 anymore, so of course I had to try the port. It looks and plays so much better on PC! There are some occasional serious gameplay issues if you raise the FPS cap above 60, but hopefully the devs can iron those out in a future patch.

I don't even think it's a matter of how successful this generation has been, so much as Nintendo watching the competition. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not aware of Sony or Microsoft doing any recent "Nintendo Selects" style budget re-release lines either? And why would they when they can have their sales events now and then, and still snatch up full price from customers who too impatient or unaware of the regular sales events to wait.

@sketchturner If you have the steam version, you can convert it to a mobile version yourself: just google "balatro mobile maker" and follow the instructions. That said, I believe I've heard that an official mobile version is being made too, but haven't heard any news about it in months, so who knows how long the wait might be beyond that they expect to have it out sometime this year.

Legends 3 was cancelled back in 2011, and I felt like Mega Man 11 was incredibly safe and uninspired. Aside from collections of previous games, just what are they "always considering", exactly? I mean I don't have any respect for the way SEGA rushes out their Sonic games, but at least they have been taking some risks and keeping Sonic relevant to some degree. I doubt most gamers even think about Mega Man these days when they think of Capcom.

This trailer leaves me extremely sceptical. The magic of the first game was in the challenge and the fact that the game just kept surprising you with new things constantly. The graphics and music also pushed the limits of the NES in various ways. This "sequel" seems to be completely oblivious to that in not only recycling the level 1 song, but recycling enemies from the first game and even showing a new obstacle reused multiple times throughout the trailer (from which I assume it will be repeated far more times throughout the game.) The art looks to be copying the original as well rather than trying to impress us in any way. That's just not at all in the spirit of the original.

I assumed Prime 4 would be pushed back to the Switch 2 long ago at this point. Maybe we'll see the remaster of Prime 2 this summer though? Maybe they'll release it as soon as this June direct?

Very disappointed. If developers are going to rerelease an old game, they shouldn't release it in a state that offers no more than emulation. From what I can tell, they didn't even bother to implement 16:9 widescreen, so we get big black bars.
This is feels lazier than the recent Dark Forces "remaster" that upscaled the graphics and added 16:9 resolutions, but didn't bother to make sure the midi music played correctly on pc, resulting in the most unpleasant butchering of midi music I may have ever heard.

Glad i have the originals, but would love to have them on switch also! Retro Game Challenge was perhaps my favorite 3rd party game on the DS, which is saying something, considering how many fantastic games the DS had.

Shame to hear the Switch port has input lag issues. Hopefully that can be patched soon, because this game deserves better!
Given how difficult the final challenges are, I'd hate to imagine how frustrating input lag would be.

Hopefully the Switch 2 will have larger joycons with hall effect sticks so that we don't have to DIY our own fixes next time around.
That said, installing hall effect sticks and getting a Satisfye grip solved all my issues with the Switch. The only thing missing is more power.
Hopefully the Switch 2 will be backwards compatible and able to play all these games I've been sitting on because I can't stand the inconsistent frame rate, otherwise I'm going to be very, very disappointed.

@GoldenSunRM
I recently played this on PC, and it took me about 15 hours for 100% completion (110% completion in-game).
It would take much less on a second play-through, but the combination of exploration, puzzle-solving, and difficult platforming (particularly at the end) easily made this one worth the price. These sorts of games are also quality over length, which is a trade I will take any day.

@Rudolf
I can confirm that Corn Kidz 64 gets genuinely difficult, especially if you go for 100% completion. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say it's one of the very best platformers I've ever played. (I recently completed it on PC)
If you give this a shot and like it, other recent indie 3D platformers that I'd recommend are Pseudoregalia, and Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom.

The movie was... Ok. I'll remain cautiously optimistic on this one until I see more, but the screenshots look promising.
My issue is with movies based on stories from other media constantly starting from the origin story over and over again with a different spin on it each time. We don't need to keep reinventing the Ninja Turtles, or Batman, or Spider-man, etc.
We can enjoy a good story without being shown how the characters got to be where they are each time. I also refuse to believe that characters need to use the current slang to be appealing to kids. If anything, it just dates the movie and makes the older audience roll their eyes, because the popular slang moves so fast these days thanks to the internet, that we all know that these movies will feel painfully dated in just a few years.

Genuinely thrilled to play these in 16:9, high fps, with improved visuals, and without messing about with a single mod! I'll be picking it up on Steam, but hopefully the classic series gains some new fans, regardless of which platform they play it on.

There's no way they will get away with claiming that this change applies to games made previously under their previous license. Hopefully they are brought to court over this. Game devs on Twitter are making a lot of noise about this one. I'm seeing a huge shift toward open source engines, and many promises to remove their Unity games from sale, which is tragic, but what choice do they have?

@Aiodensghost I suppose it should have been worth adding that I had a PDP controller a couple years ago. It was essentially identical to these, aside from the colors, and was designed for use with PC/Xbox. I enjoyed the dpad's extra functionality for adjusting the volume, and generally the buttons felt OK, if a bit on the spongy side, however the controller began acting up within a handful of months, and was dead within a year. My Switch Pro controller has been working great since I got it at the launch of the Switch... 6 years ago.
I will not be buying another PDP controller no matter how elaborately they decorate them.

So... They obviously removed the rumble, and I'm sure also the gyro and amiibo support... basically all the expensive, "non-essential" features.
Then they slapped some cheap LEDs in it, printed some art on it, jammed a plastic figurine where one of the rumble motors should be- because they know they can trick people into paying the same price as a fully-featured controller by making it look pretty. No, seriously, $60 for the wireless version? Got to be kidding me. No mistake that this is actually a budget controller in cheap makeup.

I'm sorry, this is not a rogue-like. Do people even understand that the term is a comparison to the game "Rogue"?
People are calling this genre "Bullet Heaven"
Anyway, the game is good. I do recommend it, though there are permanent upgrades, and the game doesn't really scale with them past a certain point, so after a while it stops being fun. On the bright side, I guess, you can disable upgrades until you've scaled your power back to a point where the game is fun again, but that's sort of like having a cheat button you can press whenever you want and choosing not to. Fun for some, not for me. Still, you can play for quite a lot of hours before you reach that point. I just wish the end-game maintained some sort of balance on its own.

As others have already said, I'm also not a fan of Penny's design. It's too busy and doesn't have a clean and iconic silhouette (in my opinion). That said, in context of the rest of the art direction, there is a heavy Treasure influence, which I can totally get behind. Treasure has made many of my all-time favorite games in terms of gameplay, visuals, and replayability, so I can't help but be excited to see the Mania devs looking to them for inspiration. Mania is my absolute favorite of the classic (non-boost) Sonic games, outside of fan-modded classics like Sonic 3 AIR, so I have a lot of faith that this game could fall in among the ranks of the best games I've ever played, but for now we can only wait and chip away at the insane avalanche of fantastic games that has been rolling in.

@samuelvictor Wow that's pretty incredible! glad to hear someone going the extra mile to try to appeal to everyone. Honestly, most modern games don't bother me with how they handle their pixel art, although I do find certain things unappealing (like when pixel art is animated in a sort of paper doll style or just moved around independent of any sort of grid... I've seen this recently in ANNO: Mutationem, which is such a weird mix of styles, but mostly looks beautiful outside cutscenes). Generally if a new game is given a retro style, it looks the way the developers want it to look, and that's fine by me. What I'm specifically talking about are the older games where the art was designed with how it looks on a CRT in mind, meaning there's color banding, dithering, and all sorts of interesting techniques used that look awful when viewed without the lens of the many "imperfections" of old TVs. Those imperfections also mask the low quality of cutscenes that are not rendered in-engine. That stuff is especially easy to show off to make a case for a quality CRT shader- especially scenes that are supposed to seamlessly blend back into the gameplay when they end. Or... have you seen how good those trees look in the downhill sequence at the beginning of Sonic Adventure 2 on a CRT (or a very good shader) vs a modern display? Whoever did those wasn't paid enough. At any rate, I don't feel like every old game needs some sort of crt/lcd/dot matrix or whatever shader, because not every game did something that used the limitations of the display to its advantage... and I don't need to put up with the ghosting and other issues that portable screens often had either. Good riddance to all that!

@samuelvictor Oh? I'm not remembering any Codemasters titles on GG- I guess I didn't have any unlicensed games!
I didn't know of any games that kept SMS resolution other than Castle of Illusion, so that's definitely interesting.

As for the clarity thing... that's a whole other issue.
I remember discovering emulation many years ago and being amazed at how sharp old games looked on a computer monitor, but now? Now I tend to want them to look the way they were intended to look. This frustrates me because developers don't seem to care about this, and at best their rereleases will have a very lazy and ugly CRT filter option that looks nothing like any CRT I've ever had. A quality CRT shader is absolutely required, in my opinion, to enjoy PSX or N64 games these days, because the games look horrendous without all the blur and fuzz that they were designed to be viewed through. Many older games too, look so much better when the dithering and such is blended as intended.

@samuelvictor Yes! Triple Trouble was so good- it actually hadn't occurred to me that there wasn't a SMS version of it at all?
I only played the SMS versions years later, as I never had one, but yes I can more than just imagine the blurry mess that those games must have been on a GG, because Castle of Illusion (despite its GG-specific changes) did not cut down the screen size to fit the smaller screen! When I was little I just assumed it was supposed to look fuzzy and squished! 🤣