Bobfoc

Even if Vettel's a hypocrite, it doesn't make their own views any more valid.

As a fan of the original, but one who first played it ten years ago and don't have quite the emotional attachment to it that many do, I'm OK with that in principle. If we still get to see the best locations and characters, I'm potentially on board with a different story. I saw Remake as more of a companion piece to the original game than a replacement akin to the Resident Evil remakes. The big, creeping doubt is that Nomura is in charge, and he's never been one to shy away from making things way more complicated than they need to be. I wonder if the third one will be called Reunion and have the two timelines merge. It seems like the obvious title, although they appear to be using that for the Crisis Core remake, so who knows? Maybe we'll find out in 2027.

So, we've got a Crisis Core remake for PC, Playstation, Xbox and Switch. Rebirth is PS5 only to start with, it seems. Sony must have offered Square a lot of money over the last few years, what with FF16 being exclusive as well. "Next winter" is possibly ambiguous, but Crisis Core coming "this winter" confirms that Rebirth is slated for winter 2023. It will almost certainly slip into 2024 because it's a shock if any big game isn't delayed. Oh, and there's FF7 Remake on Steam. That's good news.

Man of Medan is the sort of game you'd want to get on sale. It's rather run-of-the-mill.

I wouldn't be surprised.

This will start in three hours. If any event were to reveal new information about FF7R Part 2, it's this.

Shredder's Revenge is good. It's uncomplicated beat-'em-up fun.

An Activision-led inquiry has found that Activision doesn't have harassment issues. Well, I'm convinced.

That reminds me of the time when the England games were on Channel 5. The reception where I lived was so bad that I had to sit right up against the screen to have any idea what was going on.

Now that it's on Plus, I'm finally trying out the God of War reboot. What surprises me is how run-of-the-mill it seems. I like the setting and the characters, albeit mainly because I recognise most of them from Greek mythology. The boss battles are fun and the standard combat is OK. What really stops me from getting the most out of it are the mechanics in between the fights. First, you've got the contrived climbing and shimmying sections that the Uncharted games made me sick of. They're the ones that usually follow a scene in which an apparently easy path crumbles or gets blocked, so you have to find a way round. Then you've got the puzzles. Now, obviously, games need their quieter parts to make the balls-to-the-wall action more impactful, and that's not something I'm fundamentally against. What does bother me, however, is that these sequences in God of War just don't seem fun. The puzzles aren't challenging or engaging. They're just tedious slogs with immediately simple solutions you have to spend half an hour trawling along to get to. The climbing doesn't involve any kind of thought or cunning. It's just a case of holding the thumbstick upwards and occasionally pressing the circle button. These aren't satisfying lulls that allow the drama to sink in. They're just flow-breakers. If I could, I'd skip them completely. I think I would have liked this game a lot more if I played it ten years ago, before these forms of length-padding mechanics weren't so common. Maybe it's also because my tastes have changed over time. Whatever the case, I'm seven hours in and find it hard not to see it as a collection of fun highlights trapped inside a bloated package.

Valheim is coming to Xbox via Game Pass and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre game will be on Game Pass at release. Other than that, I'm liking the look of As Dusk Falls as a purely decision-based game. Those kinds of games usually have bad controls anyway, so taking them out is probably a good call.

This starts in just over 20 minutes. Don't expect new reveals as it's meant to be a more in-depth look at some already announced games.

"Oh, so you think £70 for a remake of The Last of Us is a lot? Have a look at this!"

Casper Ruud was just beaten by Britain's Ryan Peniston. It's been a good couple of days for British underdogs.

My understanding is that the base tier only gets the monthly games. Maybe the ones that don't have the symbol are ones you already redeemed in the past as a Plus member. I know there was a package of Plus games for PS5 owners as well. Perhaps that accounts for the others.

It will be on Game Pass at release, so that could be an option.

Yakuza games are better described as action games, although Like a Dragon is more akin to a JRPG. JRPGs tend to focus on team-based battles and are often turn-based. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are probably the most popular JRPG series. Persona is half dungeon crawling with turn-based combat and half teenager life simulator. It's in the latter category that the series really shines. You plan out your social activities, which then impact upon your combat options. It's rather quirky, but surprisingly engaging.

Jack Draper just beat world number 14 Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-2. I've always been impressed by Draper, ever since he was a junior. I think the pandemic stalled his career, but I hope he can make a breakthrough this season. I think he's got it in him to reach the top 20, at least.

If you don't hate JRPGs, then yes.

That was a relentless showcase, by which I mean that we were bombarded with so many games that it was hard for most of them to sink in. What I particularly liked was that the vast majority of the games were new IPs. I'm so sick of the old "Here's just a logo for a sequel - pre-order it now, you plebs" approach to these kinds of events.

Joking aside, that does look quite interesting.

This seems a bit like The Outer Worlds with less colour. Good to see the Bethesda character death stares are present and correct.

Only the Halo Infinite/Microsoft Flight Simulator content as far as I can think.

Kojima's cheated on Geoff Keighley. This is the biggest story of the year.