Adam Tyner

Once upon a time, I was annoyed when Best Buy cancelled my preorder since I'd locked it in when Gamers Club Unlocked was still a thing, but now, not so much.

Same here. They're not doing the separate physical tiers like they have in the past, where the fancy edition comes in a steelbook and includes the car pass and expansions. According to the FAQ, there's only one physical edition, and it's for the standard version of the game, and there's a premium add-on bundle for $50 with all the other goodies.

I'm not sure what the point is either, since they already have the Ubi logo on the art. There are a couple of exceptions, though. Mario + Rabbids isn't labeled as "A Ubisoft Original", and unless they've updated the covers from what's making the rounds now, neither are Riders Republic or the Sands of Time remake. My only guess is that they're looking to take on more of a publisher role, and at some point, not everything released by Ubisoft will have been made by Ubisoft? Because otherwise...yeah. . . . I'm trying to be better about not limiting myself to the same few events I watch every year, so I watched Wholesome Games Direct last night: something like 75 games in the space of 45 minutes. There's definitely something to be said about a Gatling gun-style barrage of cute, wildly imaginative games, only a handful of which I was familiar with beforehand. The downside is that some teasers were so short that I couldn't really tell much about them. For instance, I thought Paralives was a home designing/decoration game rather than a life sim. Some of the overlap was kind of funny too; snapping photos is a big one, but I was surprised to see multiple games about making tea and cooking on a hot pot. But plenty of games caught my eye, and it's worth setting aside a bit of time to watch if you're looking for something different.

Poor Ubisoft! I think Avatar was the only reveal that hadn't leaked, since the Far Cry 6 DLC was shown off in a YouTube ad, Nintendo listed the Mario + Rabbids sequel on their store, and Gibson sent out an email about Rocksmith+ earlier.

I'm surprised how much I dug the kickoff. Very few of the trailers were really my kind of thing, but there was tons of stuff, nothing really overstayed its welcome, and there's just something about the overall vibe I found irresistible (especially Geoff's aw-shucks wide-eyed earnestness). I definitely had a better time with this than last summer's event, and I'd probably say I liked it more than the past couple of Game Awards too. The IGN Expo is the only other event I've watched live so far, which was pretty dire. Not an especially inspired slate of reveals, some microwaved leftovers from Kickoff, and hosts that are really just...thank you, but no, not for me. None of the gaming blogs/sites I follow even bothered with a recap, and I can't say I blame 'em. I skimmed through Day of the Devs and Tribeca Games Spotlight, and I probably ought to watch them in full at some point. Tribeca was one I didn't expect much from, but it looks phenomenal. Nice focus, terrific blend of making-of footage / insight along with the expected gameplay and interviews...and every single title caught my eye. And I'm fascinated to see more than one stop-motion-based game between these two events! Sounds like I didn't miss anything by skipping the Koch snoozefest. I'll probably fast-forward through today's Ubi showcase and tomorrow's Squenix thing. I'm planning on watching Xbox/Bethesa live tomorrow, though.

Nope. Since I played through it already on the XB1X, I figured I'd wait to play one of the next-gen versions once raytracing was patched in, but it's a longer wait than I figured it'd be!

I wonder when that raytracing update is coming.

KL Studio Classics just confirmed that Out of Sight is in the works!

Vinegar Syndrome made their Scanner Cop / Scanner Cop 2 double feature official this morning. I've been in a "I will support all UHD boutique releases!" mindset for a few years now, but I think I'm at a point where I no longer want to spend $40-$60 on movies I've never seen and am not terribly excited about. 😛 So I think I'm sitting out this and Six-String Samurai.

KL Studio Classics just announced Hard Target. Dolby Vision; both the U.S. theatrical cut and unrated cuts.

I just played through the demo as Kasane, which took right at a half hour. It's a gorgeous game in some ways, despite the lack of HDR and some excessive pop-in. It'd be an exaggeration to say I felt like I was fighting the camera, but it didn't really feel like it was on my side either. 😛 It persistently wasn't quite right (and seemed to favor hanging a bit too low when I was moving). Combat/movement is on the sluggish side (with some big, flashy quasi-QTE-style interruptions), although it admittedly took me a while to get more of a grasp on the SAS elements, and NieR: Replicant has R2-to-dodge seared in my brain when I ought to be pressing B, which may have skewed my perception. (I forgot what I was supposed to do to 'borrow' special abilities from my teammates, and the 'Controls' submenu wasn't much help in reminding me.) It's not as blazingly fast or fluid as a character action game traditionally is. Maybe some of that would come in time once I've played enough for the controls to sing, and I'm sure later portions of the game would demand more than this introductory bit. I can't say I was particularly invested in the characters, setting, or premise. Based on this, at least, it's hard for me to feel compelled to open my wallet for the whole shootin' match. I want to like it, but it's just not quite there for me. But I'm open to the possibility if the reception to the full game is more positive. There's some sort of bonus (unclear what it is) in the final game if you finish the demo.

I managed to unlink my old consoles in some respects, but my OG XB1 that I gave away still shows up when I'm installing games over the web. And whoever has it now (it's passed through a couple of relatives to...I don't even know) renamed it "YEEZY", so I'm stuck looking at that every once in a while. 😛

KL Studio Classics just announced Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. No release date yet, but they did say it’s a new restoration with a Dolby Vision grade. This sounds nice; I haven’t seen this since the HD DVD first came out.

I'll definitely pick up True Romance and Cat o' Nine Tails, although I might wait for a standard edition. I've never seen the former (I know, I know), and the latter is my least favorite of Argento's golden period (and this'll be my fourth copy!). Later this month, Gunpowder & Sky is releasing (via Vinegar Syndrome) Prospect on UHD BD, starring Pedro Pascal, Sophie Thatcher, and Jay Duplass. There's a limited edition exclusively on vinegarsyndrome.com, and they're listing a standard version as well. Unclear if that standard edition will show up elsewhere later.

Since the last time I watched The Final Countdown, I married someone whose father served on the Nimitz (though he left just before filming started), so maybe we'll all be able to watch it together at some point. I definitely have this preordered.