Roderick

Enjoy fooling around with clowns!

This is quite excellent: someone on Youtube is very slightly altering existing songs, taking the instruments or tempo just ever so lightly out of tune. The results are good.

Yeah, Luke Cage kind of went on a downward spiral after the first three or four episodes.

I've been away from listening the Idle podcasts for a while due to the nature of my work (writing doesn't lend itself to listening to people talk), but I've been making an effort to get back again. Idle Weekend is so good. It's a relaxing, charming thing and it's always a pleasure to hear Danielle speak her mind. And the chemistry with Rob is great!

You had me thrown for a moment there, I thought he had died. But nope. Sean Connery has no intention of fucking off right now.

I don't care what you say! This looks cool and I am very glad and happy that there's a distinct possibility Final Fantasy XV will arrive on PC's. Director Nomura said every system capable of running DirectX 11 will be considered for release. That means it's coming out on PC's and I won't have to purchase a con-sole for this. Here's why I'm excited about a Final Fantasy game: 1. I do enjoy crazy Japanese things, as long as they're not accompanied by crazy bad Japanese RPG mechanics. This one looks to fit the bill. Less obnoxious command-based fighting, more of a turn towards free-floating action as debuted by Square-Enix in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, which was really, really fun. If they include anything like the Flowmotion system, I will be so happy. 2. Final Fantasy meets The Godfather. Bizarre neo-gangster guys with black umbrellas. It's refreshingly not based entirely on gaudy couture, poppy themes and crystal nonsense. Will it still be ridiculous and overblown? Yes. Brooding and overly sentimental? Czech. Sometimes I like that. "Aww shit, I still have to wait until 2014 before I arrive on the superior platform of IBM-based Personal Computers."

I hear that Square Enix are going to add free driving across the countryside in an upcoming patch. That's pretty cool!

I didn't watch King of Comedy as a comedy at all. It's a drama about a seriously delusional man who turns into a borderline psychopath.

Maybe! The idea is that, unlike most of the Wii Remote stuff, you actually course a curve with your arms to punch, which with Joycons should actually work. I fully expect not to be in any sort of situation from those clips though. And 1-2 Switch will be so easily forgotten! They're pushing that one so hard (just watch how much playtime it gets in the 4,5 minute video), but it reeks of the blandest tech demo. I must say I do enjoy the visual style of ARMS. The character designs are funky and colorful in a good way.

The King of Comedy is superb! Rupert Pupkin - such a non-standard roll for Robert de Niro too.

Didn't they have a few scoops? Well, time will tell.

I've had my little pleasure of the day browsing through the Rogue POTUS twitter account, secretly fuelled by White Hous aides and staff. It's a treasure trove if you need a pick-me-up. Apparently, Trump got so exasperated that he was heard shouting through a closed door 'Don't they know I'm the fucking president?!'

Excelsior! i already hate your game

Did you get a weird glimpse into how our collective viewpoints have evolved over the years? Were we really as volatile as I suspect we were back then?

Good call!

The Last Jedi sounds like a singularly lame title, but then again every other Star Wars title to date.

I didn't much care for Minish Cap. To me it felt too derivative, something that came this close to a Zelda game, without truly understanding what made it fun. Felt like a slog throughout. For my money, the DS titles (Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks) were vastly superior. Interesting, unique, fun throughout. Of the two, I like Phantom Hourglass better, though many people were put off by having to repeat the central dungeon again and again. I didn't mind, because every new item you get offers a new and faster way through it, making for a great sense of satisfaction as you plow through an area that was at first a challenge.

My love for Mario Sunshine is documented, but still I wouldn't say it's a better game than Galaxy (1). That's a pretty hardcore 'perfect' game if ever there was one. Sheer, unadulterated joy in gaming, brilliantly executed and a marvel of inventiveness. Sunshine is precious to me because it's so weird and it features the best hub in any video game, Delfino Plaza. But Galaxy, damn. Damn. Let someone else tell you.

The March 3rd release date had us over here a bit shocked as well, suddenly realising we had so much more to play. So, currently I'm enjoying Tokyo Mirage Sessions (34 hours in) and having a GREAT time. After that I mean to play at least Super Mario 3D World before moving to the Switch. But then I also have Rayman Legends lined up, and some Wii games I was raring to play: Zack & Wiki and The Last Story, most of all. Well, I can always get back to that after finishing Breath of the Wild. Honestly, I'll probably put the Switch right next to the Wii U and have them side by side for a while. No way am I packing up the console that plays Mario Maker (which gets every guest we've had so far super excited to play)!

It looks pretty slick! I love me a good Japanese setting. I just dug into Shadow Tactics for that reason (plus 'Desperados clone') and it was glorious.

I'm starting to think that maybe Reggie is speaking the truth about the 3DS sticking around as a platform. Especially now that there's a new Fire Emblem game announced on it, where I thought Yoshi's Woolly World would be its swan song. There's also the price to consider: a 330 euro Switch isn't going to be a viable replacement for people playing on their 180 euro handheld. I don't know if I'd like this though. Part of the immense appeal of the Switch was that there'd be one single device Nintendo could focus all their resources and attention on. Well, we'll see.

The FE Nintendo Direct was well produced, if also not what I expected. I was anticipating a HUGE reveal on Fire Emblem Warriors, seeing as that's the up-coming big Switch thing. Instead we got one measly additional shot which made it look hilarious and cheap, rather than enticing. The mobile game looked cute and they went so far to explain all the things you could do there. It felt highly aimed at newcomers to the series. But, hey, if you're a die-hard FE fan, you definitely got four games in the next two years to look out for! So, I guess, Fire Emblem is in full production right now. A cash cow rivalling Mario at the moment. Which is neither a complaint nor a concern.

Dartmonkey: the Switch boxes will be similar in height to regular Wii (U) ones (i.e. standard DVD box), but smaller in width. Should look pretty sleek, and also save on retailer space, possibly getting more Switch games up front in the store. The My Nintendo News report is VERY interesting, since it basically contradicts the current report that the 'one free game' deal is a limited time offer. In theory, that's a big thing. I'm also crossing my fingers for that long-fabled unified Nintendo account where all your games are tracked unbound from the machine. Also, I took the jump and for the first time ever, I preordered a console. The Switch for 330 euronions. I made up my mind that I want the colored ones, since grey is just too drab, but the major gaming chain here only accepts preorders for grey Switches, with the possibility for changing once they know how many in color they get. That's fine. And yes, it'd be great if Nintendo started producing sets of Joycons in all sorts of crazy colors and combinations. That'd get me to buy a new pair.

Good post, Kolzig. Like Twig, I also really really like the name Switch and the logo and the whole branding of the thing. I doubt the 3DS will live on after the first year of Switch (caveat: unless the Switch bombs to an amazing degree, then they'll scramble to revitalise the system and create a follow-up). Reggie's talk is standard procedure. I have a pre-order problem though. I'd love to pre-order (here in Holland it's still possible), but I can't make up my mind if I want the grey joycons or the red and blue ones. I'm verrrry slowly getting used to the colored ones, but my initial reaction was 'yuck', because they seemed so gaudy neon - not quite a strong color but vaguely diluted. Has anyone seen them for real? I suspect they may be nicer in real life than on pictures, but until I get a hands-on, I won't know for sure. Grey is the safe option, of course, though I've lamented before it's also very boring.

The Eurogamer article is a little troubling, BUT. In contrast to the Wii U, I think the Switch offers an inherently attractive proposition to many gamers. Which is why I think that, if it isn't a big hit at first, it'll follow the same trajectory as the 3DS. To wit, a much-maligned system with a barren landscape of games at first (though how a big time Zelda and Mario game can be seen as anything else than system sellers is beyond me), but that after its first year picks up steam enormously as game studios start making more games for it and a few killer apps appear (Streetpass most notably). It's not unreasonable to think that Nintendo might pull the price-lowering card again, like they did with Wii U, come Summer. And we just haven't heard all the games yet that will appear on the system this year. It's entirely possible that somewhere in Q3 or Q4 as surprise Pokémon Stars is coming, and that basically means everyone will buy a Switch. But, really, the first year isn't always that meaningful for a console (even if financial people might disagree). A console can make all sorts of turnarounds. Though I still think the system will outperform the Wii U even in its first year.