Parks and Recollection is a great recap series that’s currently working its way through Parks and Rec with Rob Lowe and Alan Yang (as well as guests here and there). Highly recommend it.

This might sound strange, but I’d be curious to play this mod without the voice acting, just using the retranslated text.

I think you have to take into account the fact that the first game launched early enough in the Switch’s lifespan that everyone was still really hungry for anything to play, so it also may have succeeded in part due to lack of competition. I remember picking it up out of boredom, enjoying it just enough to finish it,…

Isn't it a long-running thing from old shows that Shaggy is actually really smart and accomplished, but then just lost interest at some point and became a stoner?

Mildly hot takes:

On top of the fact that, while Link’s Awakening is an all-time classic and one of my favorite games, it’s also a faithful remake of a 30 year old Game Boy game that you can easily beat in like 6 hours. Not that gameplay time should correlate to value or quality much or at all, but it’s still a tough sell for a lot of…

I didn’t realize you could simultaneously successfully steal this much money and product while also creating this many giant red flashing arrows pointing at yourself. It’s impressive in its own brash and stupid way.

Whoa, two whole games! One of which is basically a glorified tech demo! You’ve changed my mind.

Late 90s: Squaresoft nearly goes bankrupt due to a wildly ambitious CGI movie, merges with Enix to survive.
2024: Square Enix nearly goes bankrupt due to wildly illogical push into pyramid schemes, acquired by Epic purely so that Cloud and Sephiroth can be in Fortnite

Hi, welcome to Kotaku! Coincidentally I just started listening to Normandy FM a few days ago since I also listen to Axe of the Blood God and love it so far (already nearly done with ME1), so your name at the top was a nice surprise. Glad someone else enjoyed Arceus as much as I did!

I mean, good for you as long as you’re really into one very particular flavor of exclusive games (photorealistic prestige open world etc), but I prefer more variety and spice in my gaming cuisine. Exclusives haven’t really been the be-all and end-all for a few years, with the biggest games recently being multiplatform…

I definitely think that's the case. I heard an interview with one of Pentiment's directors basically saying that - he probably wouldn't have even pitched the idea if profitability / number of copies was the sole driver of success. I've also read that Double Fine spent much of their existence at the point where one bad…

Maybe a few years ago, but now Microsoft is the one doing really interesting shit. Developing a streaming stick that could easily replace the need for their own console and make it more affordable to more people? The best accessible controller on the market? Funding wildly interesting studios so that they have the…

In my opinion, this was the year that solidified the fact that the Playstation experience has narrowed from their wild and creative first and second party output across most of their history to a very narrow focus on photorealistic / “cinematic” open-world AAA games. Each of their modern series (the few that are left)…

Fair point - GSC are lookers, with GS especially being the best looking games on the OG Game Boy, but that’s not a terribly high bar either. The only other contenders I can think of on OG Game Boy are Link’s Awakening and maybe the DK Land games?

I was in middle school when the PS2 first released, and having been a regular EGM subscriber for a while was well tuned in to how damn cool it was going to be. Everybody wanted one, and for the most part, everyone got one that Christmas it seemed...except for us. Instead, my parents, clever and cruel in their frugal…

Thanks. I think all the EA launcher games show up that way, which is strange.

Separate from the Winter Sale, Square Enix also has quite a few games on sale for the next week or so. FF7R, Triangle Strategy, Valkyrie Elysium, Diofield, Nier Replicant, etc are all at or near 50% off, and lots of their back catalog is deeply discounted too. Plenty of other places like Epic and Fanatical are having…

Right! Plus, the Pokemon themselves in SV look incredible - their textures are much better and more vibrant, with many even being reflective or luminescent, and they each have so many unique and charming animations. Sudowoodo is a coward and dashes away from you with dust clouds behind it, Dratini coils up like an…

I had similarly positive experiences in Arceus and Scarlet. I’ve played a ton of both and haven’t had issues, particularly in Scarlet. Sure, they’re not lookers by any stretch but a medium-sized dev put out two AAA games in a calendar year that prioritized innovating gameplay in a very conservative old series. I still…