Covskin

I've never tended to play horror games, especially when I was younger. My earliest scary gaming memory though would be the final section of Monkey Island 2 - the Dinkey Island underground tunnels. I was only 5 or so when I played this game. Guybrush being stuck in these drab tunnels, stalked by LeChuck wielding his voodoo powers was terrifying to me. Even though its only a small area, I would get lost constantly due to my panicking. The way the music would just change! This all combined to make it difficult for me to solve the final puzzles, and it felt like I couldn't stay in any one area long enough to focus before being found and zapped across the map all over again. I was in perpetual anxiety. Brilliant game though, love it to death.

I think my first 2010s game was Super Mario Galaxy 2, which is an incredible game. I probably have more memories of the first game, thanks to its presentation and the comet observatory, but SMG2 still has more than its fair share of fantastic levels and invention. I rarely let myself get hyped for upcoming releases, in any media. Few things can live up to the fervour and unrealistic expectations we dream up in our mind. One of the last times I actually let myself get on the hype train was Sonic Generations. I got swept along in the 20th anniversary fun, including Summer of Sonic that year. Luckily, I loved the game. I see its flaws, but overall I find it a fun product and I have fond memories of its release period. Telltale’s The Walking Dead was a phenomenon. Up to that point, they’d been that point-and-click company reviving classic Lucasarts (but not as good) and I’d given up on them by this point. Yet, this story and choice driven approach got them actual mainstream appeal. They never managed to capture that magic again (The Wolf Among Us was closest with its final confrontation) but what a ride that first Season was. I did quit after Season 2, no interest in 3 or 4. Keeping with that theme, The Last Of Us. I’ve picked up and enjoyed all of the Uncharted series, but never to the extent of their reputation. TLOU though, wow. It is the relationship of Joel and Ellie that really makes it special, it’s one of the very few games I immediately replayed after first finishing the story. I bought a Wii U in Summer 2017 almost purely to play Breath of the Wild, and I do not regret that decision one iota. Sublime. Finally, most recently, Sonic Mania really hit me in the nostalgia feels, but with a solid new entry that (cliché alert!) really felt like the natural progression of what we should have had in the mid 90s. I can’t really name any worst games to be fair, with so many reviewers online now you almost have to go out of your way to buy a bad game or be a slave to a franchise and submit to them. No, the worst memories really are the dodgy gaming practices that we’re all aware of. For balance, this decade saw me get a new Monkey Island, an eventual release of The Last Guardian (that was partly why I got a PS3!) and confirmation Psychonauts 2 is coming. PS Plus and Now have both allowed me to expand my gaming experience more than I would have done otherwise. Let’s hope the good can continue to outweigh the bad moving forward.

Is this meant to be a completed panel or still work-in-progress? Because the difference in shading between Zephur and everything else is really distracting.

Oh God this Cabinet is horrifying so far. Raab as Foreign Secretary in particular is dismal.

This is looking like the follow-up I was hoping for after playing the original all those years ago. The mission-based structure of Dark Moon didn't suit me, though I did like the multiple locations. Hopefully the hotel allows for decent room variety, and I'm glad there will be distinct ghosts throughout again. The new tricks and gadgets look really promising as well. Very hopeful for this one.

I need to buy a switch. MY only slight concern is it looked like a very similar map to the original, and I would like a whole new world to explore, to recreate that sense of wonder in exploring something new around every corner. There could be changes made to the landscape by the events of that trailer, or it could be the castle getting transported somewhere new, and I hope its the latter. Give me some proper dungeons too this time and without hyperbole it could well be the most incredible game ever.

Unless the redesign is significantly closer to the standard Sonic template, whatever new look they come up will likely end up with a similar level of scorn (I'm expecting quotes such as "9 months and that's the best they could do?"). As said before, they've brought it on themselves. And of course, the fact that everything else we know about the film / trailer so far is super generic means reactions to the film itself, no matter what Sonic looks like, will still probably be poor. This is a brief respite from the bad publicity, but I suspect it'll only be a blip and in a couple of year's time this will just be another footnote.

Not likely with these potential frontrunners: Jeremy Hunt - damaged the NHS, leading to worries of backdoor privatisation Michael Gove - pissed off all the school teachers with his terrible approach to education Boris Johnson - professional public buffoon, scheming backstabber in "private", lead Brexiter with that smegging lying bus. Then you get the usual idiots like Truss, Raab and Leadsom being mentioned, and I'm not sure what to make of others like Javid and Stewart. It certainly doesn't inspire confidence that things will get better anytime soon.

Even more than that: Original Vote was to rule out "no deal" specifically on 29th March. May said she'd vote to rule out no deal, but offered MPs a free vote. Amendment is added to rule out "no deal" ever. May scrambles, now plans to vote against the idea of ruling out no deal despite putting forward the original vote, and tries to enforce the 3-line whip to make the rest of the Party fall in line. Not only does she lose, even Cabinet members abstain rather than support! Then May's best plan is to offer a 3rd vote on her crappy deal that's already been rejected twice, and even hinted that if she loses again she'll just putit up for a fourth andmaybe even fifth time! It's farcical.

Showed the full render to my dad earlier. He knew it was Sonic, but also, in his words knew that "he didn't look right". He had no qualms when I showed him Detective Pikachu afterwards though. Not that he was ever the target audience or ever likely to see the films, but its just another example of someone recognising uncanny valley. This latest shot is just the strangest yet. I think they're going for a wind-rush kind of shot, showing the speed against his face, causing the mouth to be open like that...but hell does that mouth look goofy. Then the eyes...at first I thought the irises were too big, but the more I look at them, the more Sonic appears cross-eyed. I also can't tell if his hands have been obscured by his wrists as he runs, or if they're suddenly blue fists. Finally, is it just me or is there no depth to his legs? Like, it appears he's stood still bending forward, not running. Or is he in the process of launching himself for a jump, based on the red blur for his shoes? I'm no art analyst and not great at putting my thoughts into words on subjects like this, the whole thing is just "off" to me on so many levels. One last thing actually - I know the whole "no such thing as bad publicity" argument, but considering Sonic's general reputation on the internet, all it seems to me is we're going more into meme territory than people becoming legitimately interested in seeing the movie. I don't think that will necessarily translate to a big box office. Maybe a respectable opening weekend, and a sharp decline. Still, who knows, script could be great with an interesting trailer...I just don't see reason for optimism.

...why? I must be missing something, is it somehow cheaper to have the dodgy PAL versions? I don't think there were any extras on those PS1 games, to my knowledge that was more a PS2 era thing (like a new Sphere Grid in FFX and European Extreme difficulty in MGS2).

There is a RE2make in development.

The full list is a strange mix of actual classics, early games that pioneered before being quickly super-ceded by better games, those with small cult followings and mind-boggling "who asked for THAT?" cheapness. I understand why games that used a lot of licenses aren't available. I understand why Crash and Spyro were left out (I guess Resident Evil HD and New N Tasty were deemed old enough not to be a sales concern). But there's so many odd decisions here. I had to Google Intelligent Qube. Turns out it was called Kurushi in Europe...which I've only heard of recently due to a random Youtube video. Add in Mr Driller and Super Puzzle Fighter, did we really need 3 puzzle games? Battle Arena Toshinden, who's going to play that for more than ten minutes when they have Tekken 3 right there? Jumping Flash instead of almost any other 3D platformer that followed it? Surely Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby are similar enough to cover the same niche? Couldn't Wipeout have made an appearance? If you're having M Rated games like GTA, why leave out some of the other big names like Silent Hill (Konami already agreed to MGS, can't have been much more to ask)? Rainbow Six, when was the last time anyone talked about the original game? I've heard people reminisce for the first Medal of Honour more recently than that. Its a really strange hodge-podge that feels like a quick cash grab. You might as well get the best ones from PSN, at least then you'll have analogue controls. EDIT - apparently the Japanese version is a little different, and includes the following: Arc the Lad Arc the Lad 2 Armored Core Biohazard Director’s Cut (Resident Evil Director’s Cut) Final Fantasy VII International G Darius Gradius Gaiden Intelligent Qube Jumping Flash Megami Ibunroku Persona: Be Your True Mind (Revelations: Persona) Metal Gear Solid Mr. Driller Parasite Eve Ridge Racer Type 4 SaGa Frontier Super Puzzle Fighter IIX Tekken 3 Toshinden (Battle Arena Toshinden) Wild Arms XI [sái] (Devil Dice)

Eh, my main memories of Tales aren't as rosy. The repetition of the map puzzle in Episode 1 frustrated me, and the Mer-people of Episode 2 came out of nowhere. I think it was Episode 2, the part where Guybrush teaches LeChuck how to puzzle solve was hilarious to be fair. My memories of Episode 3 were it being the pits, haha. Didn't like the restricted location or the face-pulling minigame/puzzle and Murray could only do so much to carry it. My main reason for still preferring the originals is scale, something that the episodic format of Tales could naturally never match. The quest for the 4 map pieces in MI2 is the pinnacle of open-ended design for me, allowing the player to go through 4 different puzzle lines in any order, mixing and matching whenever you want or need. The Three Trials and Plunder Island are similarly large and varied. Its just something a smaller 3/4 hour episodic game could never hope to match. Its not a deal-breaker, it just comes with the territory. I used to hope after The Walking Dead Season 1, Telltale would have become large enough to not rely on the episodic format anymore, allowing for bigger adventures. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

Aw man. I remember vividly when Telltale first came to the point-and-click scene. I was part of a Monkey Island forum at the time, and after Lucasarts cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police, the community was desperately looking for ANYTHING. Telltale got our attention by teasing a licensed game, and all they showed was a close-up of something white. Everyone was convinced it was Max! Eventually, it was revealed to be...Bone. Was a bit of a dick move, really. It wasn't too long after that we got what we had hoped for, new Sam and Max. It was decent, and Season 2 was a definite improvement. I was happy. Telltale was growing. One of my favourite genres was being revitalised. Even then, Telltale had oddball decisions. I love Homestar Runner as much as next guy, but doing a 5-part series on a web cartoon is really a strange business decision. Wallace & Gromit was also an unusual choice, and Back to the Future was a surprise (I don't think it was even for a major anniversary, may be wrong though). It was around this point I first thought Telltale might be spreading themselves too thin. Then the crazy people actually did it. They made a new Monkey Island. It was decent. I haven't played it since it first released almost 10 years, I probably should try it again. Aside from a third series of Sam and Max (probably their most ambitious in mechanics), this is where they moved to interactive storytelling. The Walking Dead Series 1 is a really big deal. I don't fully blame them for changing their focus after its success, and all the media attention Telltale received from it. The Wolf Among Us is also pretty damn good. Series 2 of the Walking Dead disappointed me, and to be honest I haven't bought any of their games since then. I'm stunned at this news though, because of the sheer amount of licenses they were playing with, I reckoned they must be swimming in cash. But as Ryan said above, it was way too much. They had far too many ongoing projects, people splitting time across various franchises leaving no consistency within them. That said, I was quite anticipating The Wolf Among Us 2. If I'd known TWD3 was such an improvement over Series 2, I might have given that a go by now as well. Weren't they actually working on a new engine, or at least a proper update? Figures that as soon as they try to address one of their most common criticisms, they run out of money. Its strange seeing a company rise and fall in about 15 years (or less), and I have sympathy for the staff. Now, with a heavy heart, I'm off to download the games I bought direct from their website, PRE-STEAM before they disappear.