Solly

General direct, maybe. I think Smash will get a direct (or at least some sort of presentation) by the end of this month. It's hard to imagine them stealth-dropping Joker and the 3.0 update which we know are coming in April.

@tailsBOOM! @KHCast That makes sense, thank you. Hopefully it pans out and we do get a direct on Thursday. I actually like stage builder a lot. Hopefully the one in Ultimate has more to choose from in terms of level gimmicks/pre-made objects, like bumpers, danger zones etc.

Does Nintendo NYC closing early really mean anything?

Is this your entire argument? Are you going to do anything other than hand-wave criticism by saying it's just business? Because everyone already knows that. It doesn't change the consequences consumers face. Valve has on numerous occasions said that they have measures in place to make sure users still have access to their Steam library in the unlikely event of the service shutting down, so unless something's changed I don't think this is true either? There's definitely a discussion to be had about the security that comes from owning a game vs. owning a license for one because this is a legitimate concern, especially when you consider the prospect of streaming/subscriptions/an all digital future, but I don't really see how that's relevant here.

It's their game? Huh? Am I missing something here? As far as I'm aware, Borderlands is developed by Gearbox and published by 2K Games. Epic doesn't have ownership of anything other than the Unreal Engine. Unless I'm completely wrong here, it isn't "their" game at all. If it were, I couldn't imagine it coming to Steam, period. And of course they want to draw people to their storefront. Nobody's questioning their motives; that has nothing to do with why people are upset. Moreover, saying that this happens on consoles as well is whataboutism and hardly an argument worth entertaining, but it bears mentioning that consumers complain when it happens there too. They're generally more forgiving in cases like Bloodborne or Bayonetta 2 (which ended up being a shitstorm anyway) where Sony and Nintendo respectively were responsible for the game even existing in the first place, so exclusivity is more than justified. When games or DLC end up being money hatted, that is to say, publishers are payed to keep their content off of another platform, that's when people start voicing their dissatisfaction-- which seems to be what's happening here.

I mean, kinda yeah. The core of the issue isn't about whether or not Epic's launcher is inferior (it is), or whether or not the experience will somehow be worse on it than Steam. It's the fact that it's such a dickhead move by Epic and 2K that comes at the expense of consumer. People knew this game was getting moneyhatted, and giving customers less options for where they can purchase the game doesn't benefit anyone other than Epic. This also means you're probably not gonna be seeing a lot of third party sellers like Humble or GMG offering keys for it. That and I personally like having everything in one place when I can help it. My other games, achievements, wallet funds and friends who played the other Borderlands games are all on Steam.

They probably streamlined transformations as much as they reasonably could in Half-Genie Hero (while still keeping the dancing, of course), so I'd have to go with the second choice. Accessing different forms is only tedious because you're asked to do it so often, and shortening the process wouldn't solve the lock-and-key gameplay, as you put it.

Cautiously optimistic about this. I don't think it would be too controversial of me to say that 'Shantae' has always been more about style than substance. Its gameplay is in desperate need of a shakeup. I find it quite telling that the most universally-praised game in the series, Pirate's Curse, is the game that takes the main transformation gimmick the series is based on, and completely shelves it in favor of a more traditional Metroid-style progression system where you're given new abilities that synergize with each other, allowing you to access new areas while changing the way you play little by little. It doesn't have the visual flair of belly-dancing to transform into a bunch of different animals, but it's a lot more compelling than just see obstacle > dance for a few seconds > turn into elephant > break obstacle > immediately turn back because playing as anything other than normal Shantae kinda sucks. Not everyone's going to agree with that appraisal, and I don't mean to be overly harsh, but this is coming from someone who likes the series and has played every game in release order, and backed Half-Genie Hero. These games are kinda shallow. They're not bad by any stretch, but it would be nice to see Wayforward bring some new ideas to the table.

I'd be thrilled because Jill & Leon are both some of my most-wanted characters. They might be hard to make work without realistic guns but the series has other weapons.

Every Gamestop and Best Buy I know is doing a midnight launch. We've had 9PM launches on other big games like Red Dead but it doesn't look like that's happening for Smash. Are you on the West coast by any chance? This might be a timezone thing.

This. And even then, Shovel Knight's AT status probably owes itself, in-part, to the fact that Nintendo is the publisher for his game in Japan. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for both of them to make the cut, but I just don't see it happening.