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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: Today at 02:19:02 pm »

Bradley the Badger looks like it could be promising.

I forgot about this one. I'm on the fence about it, but it looks promising. There aren't enough high budget, colorful mascot platformers made anymore. I was getting some Mario Odyssey and Banjo Kazooie vibes from is a win in my book. I just hope they're able to pull it off and it's actually fun.

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: Today at 02:16:33 pm »

The biggest, best surprise was Star Wars Galactic Racer, especially knowing the NFS/Burnout people are making it. I wasn't terribly excited about the new KOTOR game, but it's a game I may find myself getting more excited about when it gets closer to release.

I didn't know it has those sort of people working on the game, that has me much more excited, more than I was before.  I use to love Episode 1 Racer and to get something that looks to combine multiple vehicles type is super fun.  I'm also just excited for this and possibly the new Old Republic game because it's outside the big companies now, no EA, no Ubisoft, to me, I feel like that's often a contributor to the Star Wars games we have gotten for awhile not really nailing it like they should.  We'll have to see, I want both of these to be good.

At first I thought it was a brand new pod racing game, but supposedly it's pod racers, speeder bikes, hover craft, and other more land based Star Wars vehicles. I'm really looking forward to it and it sounds like it's going to be a blast.

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 11, 2025, 11:39:57 pm »

I'm not sure why I allowed myself to get hyped at all for TGA or Summer Game Fest. Every year, I think, "yep, this is the year where there's a ton of great announcements that I'll want to buy!" Nope. With that said, the evening wasn't a complete wash.


Sadly, the most exciting announcements was RE9, which was a game we already knew about. The Leon was leaked and spoiled before TGA so it wasn't as exciting as it would have been if I'd avoiding leaks and rumors. Still, I'm very excited about this game and look forward to buying it day 1 in February.


The biggest, best surprise was Star Wars Galactic Racer, especially knowing the NFS/Burnout people are making it. I wasn't terribly excited about the new KOTOR game, but it's a game I may find myself getting more excited about when it gets closer to release.


New Mega Man looked cool, but the 2027 release date kinda killed my excitement. At least we know a new MM is coming.


Some of those Chinese action games looked kinda cool. But they're sort of wait and see titles where I'll hold off my judgement until the games come out.


Other than that, I didn't see a single other game I was excited about. I hoping for at least one HOLY SHIT game to get announced, but that didn't happen. I got a couple, "Oh, that looks pretty cool" games and then everything else was kinda neutral and a lot of stuff I have zero interest. Also, I can't believe they closed with some dumbass team shooter game. I get this probably appeals to casual and non-gamers but for me it was one of the least interesting games talked about all night.


I just really wish I hadn't wasted 4 hours watching this crap live. Again, I tell myself almost every year I'm not going to watch the live show, but end up doing it anyways. Maybe I'll actually remember not to watch Summer Game Fest. I just wish things were as good as they were at E3 up until around 2019 or so. Thank god for my backlog.

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 11, 2025, 10:32:39 am »

Sega has an announcement for the show, so possibly the next big Sonic game for next year or 2027.  I don't have any big hope for that, most mainline Sonic games are more bad than good, and Sonic Frontiers had a lot of awful stuff going on with its art style and world design and just running horribly, but I think it had good ideas.  They just need to overhaul a lot of it, make sure the engine isn't garbage, and definitely make sure to not have lots of ugly stuff stuck in the air appearing in front of you 50 feet away lol

It's either Sonic or I guess it could be those games they teased abit ago where it was bringing back older franchises like Crazy Taxi and such so could have a bunch of new stuff to show for those games.

Sonic has always faired way better in the 2D space imo. I'm actually not a fan of most 3D Sonic games I've played. A few years ago I went back and replayed Sonic Adventure for the first time in forever. Unfortunately, despite a ton of nostalgia for that game, I found it not to be that great anymore. I've played a few newer 3D Sonic games in recent years and none of them inspired me to want to play beyond the first hour or so into the game. Mario had faired WAY better when it comes to 3D platformers.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 09, 2025, 10:58:31 pm »

119. Pilot Kids (Arcade)

While they have a few shmups I really enjoy, I'm generally not the biggest fan of the former shmup dev Psikyo. For the most part, I find their STG games to be a bit haphazardly put together with poor balancing, inconsistent or poorly sized hit boxes, and on occasion lazy, uninspired visuals. However, one of their shmups, Pilot Kids has always been a curiosity of mine due to have different it seems from most of their other shooters, both in how it looks and plays.


After playing and beating Pilot Kids (which btw only takes about 15 minutes), I can definitely say it's pretty different than your standard Psikyo shooter, but it's not necessarily better unfortunately. For one, the visuals are probably the biggest strength of this game. Being developed on Sega's Model 2 hardware, the game leans fully into 3D visuals for the backgrounds, ships, and other stage elements. Pilot Kids does have an impressive array of enemies and the bosses are visually appealing, creative, and pretty quirky too. There are also fun set pieces like your character's ship being chased by the family dog as you're making your way through one of the stages. Unfortunately, most of the stages are a bit on the bland and uninteresting side of things. But still, the fact this game has you piloting a little toy airplane flying around the inside of a house deserves some recognition for how original it is.


The audio in Pilot kids is fine for the most part, but doesn't necessarily sound amazing at any given time. The music is appropriate and pretty good for the most part. Sound effects from weapons and enemies sound fine as well. Again, the audio is just slightly better than okay, which is enough, but it would have been nice if there was more here.


Finally, the gameplay of Pilot Kids is fairly original, at least for a Psikyo shmup, but not particularly good. The ship you control has a standard forward laser shot which feels pretty underpowered, even after collecting various power ups. Where the game leaves it mark is when you use your ship's secondary weapon which is a tagging star where you can mark up several enemies, which then fires a hoping missile that destroys them and also any enemies that happen to be in the path of the traveling missile. You can also tag up a single enemy and then unleash this game's version of a shmup bomb attack. This fairly unique system is executed okay, but is hampered by typical Psikyo balancing issues. Your hit box is just a bit oo big for some of what the game throws your way, and unfortunately neither shot type does much to mitigate these attacks.


Even though I have a lot of criticisms of this game and one might think I hate Psikyo (I don't), I actually enjoyed Pilot Kids more than I disliked it. Sure, I'm not going to be replaying this game any time soon, or possibly ever again, but it was a fun little romp into one of the more obscure, rare shooters I've ever played. If you have the chance to play this game and don't have to waste any quarters on it, yeah sure, try it out. It's decent for what it is and certainly not Psikyo's worse shooter, nor is it close to being their best either. (12/9/25) [29/50]

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: December 09, 2025, 05:51:39 pm »

I've been selling stuff on eBay since 2006 and I've dealt with some real pieces of work over the years. My worst experience was actually as a buyer. I bought a game from someone, can't even remember which game it was, that was shipped in a Pop Tart box and surprise, it arrived damaged. I left negative feedback (I probably should have reached out to them first, but whatever), and they sent me a message threatening me with physical violence if I didn't change or remove the feedback. Of course I reported them and their 1000+ feedback account got banned. They then proceeded to make new accounts just so they could continue to harass me and even began buying items I would post and then never paying for them. This went on for several months. Ebay was incredibly unhelpful in all this and just did wack a mole with banning their new accounts. I essentially had to take a long break from ebay and began just ignoring their messages. Several months later I went to post some items to sell and they had finally cooled off.


Not nearly that bad, but most recently I had a guy give me Neutral feedback (at least it wasn't negative) because the item he bought wasn't as "New" as he wanted it to be even though the item was...brand new. I wish I were kidding. I guarantee it was because he planned on sending it off to be graded and was mad he couldn't get like a 90+ condition rating or whatever. Modern Pokemon card people are insane.

Are people still game grading? Isn't that supposed to be just one giant farce?

Anyways - interesting stories you've got. Really, nothing surprises me anymore. Threatening with violence is probably the most extreme thing I've heard (and I know that there are some lunatics out there) but he was just being a poor sport.

Yes unfortunately, and yes it is a complete scam. Somehow, some guy getting paid $20 an hour is qualified to give a came, card, or whatever a condition rating, a plastic case is put on it, now it's suddenly worth 5x more than it would have been otherwise. People who buy graded merch have legit problems they probably need to seek professional help for. It's completely out of hand with Pokemon cards at the moment. I'm currently selling a bunch I've had for 15-years plus and that whole scene is pure cancer.

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 08, 2025, 04:11:52 pm »

Predictions
- new Elder Scrolls VI trailer (there won't be a date given, but think of this is a hype generator announcement. I can see the game getting an official name here and it also being "the BIG announcement of the evening."

2018 sure feels like a while ago.

I forgot it was that long ago. I remember at the time feeling like it was just a massive pat on the head and Bethesda being like, "yeah, it's still happening someday...but you all already knew that. Now, shut up and quit bothering us about it."

That's definitely why the 2018 "announcement" trailer exists. I wonder how much sooner The Elder Scrolls VI would have released if The Elder Scrolls Online still wasn't supported, or if it had never even existed at all.

I constantly think that whenever I see a new ESO trailer premier. I can't help but think getting acquired by Microsoft probably set things back a fair amount as well. Regardless, I can see another "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" being more or less a higher effort pat on the head with an actual title and maybe some very, very early cinematics to go with it.

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General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: December 08, 2025, 12:11:16 pm »

I've been selling stuff on eBay since 2006 and I've dealt with some real pieces of work over the years. My worst experience was actually as a buyer. I bought a game from someone, can't even remember which game it was, that was shipped in a Pop Tart box and surprise, it arrived damaged. I left negative feedback (I probably should have reached out to them first, but whatever), and they sent me a message threatening me with physical violence if I didn't change or remove the feedback. Of course I reported them and their 1000+ feedback account got banned. They then proceeded to make new accounts just so they could continue to harass me and even began buying items I would post and then never paying for them. This went on for several months. Ebay was incredibly unhelpful in all this and just did wack a mole with banning their new accounts. I essentially had to take a long break from ebay and began just ignoring their messages. Several months later I went to post some items to sell and they had finally cooled off.


Not nearly that bad, but most recently I had a guy give me Neutral feedback (at least it wasn't negative) because the item he bought wasn't as "New" as he wanted it to be even though the item was...brand new. I wish I were kidding. I guarantee it was because he planned on sending it off to be graded and was mad he couldn't get like a 90+ condition rating or whatever. Modern Pokemon card people are insane.

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 08, 2025, 11:57:37 am »

I'm interested in learning more about Stranger Than Heaven, which was announced last year under the name Project Century. It wouldn't surprise me for there to be at least one announcement from Ryu ga Gotoku.

Predictions
- new Elder Scrolls VI trailer (there won't be a date given, but think of this is a hype generator announcement. I can see the game getting an official name here and it also being "the BIG announcement of the evening."

2018 sure feels like a while ago.

I forgot it was that long ago. I remember at the time feeling like it was just a massive pat on the head and Bethesda being like, "yeah, it's still happening someday...but you all already knew that. Now, shut up and quit bothering us about it."

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 08, 2025, 11:54:50 am »

Sadly, the Shenmue 4 trailer is confirmed fake. YsNet has even threatened legal action against whoever did it. So... that's off the plate.

The industry is in such a state that I have no hype for gaming anymore. I've no predictions for what will be revealed as I expect with the vast majority of this generation, nothing will be of note for me.

I saw that about Shenmue 4. What's weird to me is how seriously YSnet taking it. People make fake trailers constantly. Hell, Half Life 3 probably has more fake/fan made trailers at this point than all the Shenmue content on youtube combined. I almost wonder if this is just a really, really early concept trailer using lots of assets from Shenmue 3 that they didn't want released due to how crude it was. It seems like it would be easy enough to just come out and say, "yep, it's fake. Movie on with your lives now." But instead they're threatening legal action. Something is up, even if the trailer is completely fake. At least that's my opinion.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 07, 2025, 08:27:42 pm »

118. Deathsmiles IIx (PS4)

I pride myself on the fact that I've played and beat nearly every SHMUP the developer Cave has put out since they became their own company back in the early 90s. They are elite when it comes to the STG genre and have created some of the best shooters ever made, even some holding that honor for literal decades. Still, that's not to say all their games are gold or that they haven't put out the occasional turd during their history. With Christmas rapidly approaching and me trying to find games to get in the mood, I decided to satisfy both this and to play one of the last few Cave SHMUPs I've never played before, Deathsmiles IIx. I went into playing Deathsmiles IIx only knowing that its predecessor is one of the best SHMUPs in Cave's catalog, but also that it wasn't as loved as the that first game. If only I'd known how big the power gap in quality was between the first and second game, it may have braced me for how bad Deathsmiles IIx actually was.


I can't think of a single aspect of Deathsmiles IIx that it does better than its predecessor. Gone are the charming, well done 2D backgrounds and pre-rendered 3D enemies and bosses, and instead we full 3D enemies, bosses, backgrounds, and even the playable characters which look okay at best, and absolutely terrible at worst. You also have an OST that's not as good and just overall sound quality that leaves a lot to be desired. Gameplay does fare much better, with the same basic mechanics of the first Deathsmiles returning, but with less polish, balance, or intention. However, out of all these things, it has got to be the lazy 3D visuals which are by far the most jarring downgrade between these two games. What sucks too is I decided to play Deathsmiles IIx this month to get in the Christmas spirit more, but outside the first stage and main villain, this game might as well not have Christmas in its title at all.


Deathsmiles IIx is unfortunately a pretty boring, dull, half baked SHMUP that serves as one of Cave's worst. Do yourself a favor and play almost any other Cave shooter and you'll likely be playing a better game. Deathsmiles IIx just isn't even worth the 25 minutes or so it takes to beat. (12/7/25) [23/50]

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: December 07, 2025, 03:41:20 pm »

117. Detroit Become Human (PS4)

I've been wanting to pick Detroit Become Human back up for a while now, ever since I first beat it almost 2-years ago. The promise of its extensive branching story paths with each of the playable characters and how heavily those differences can vastly change the final outcome of the story promised to make my second go around with this game feel like an all new experience. Or so I thought.


There is no denying the impressive amount of choices and branching paths in Detroit Become Human, however with a few exceptions here and there, and especially during the last fifth of the game, I found doing things different to produce mostly inconsequential differences between my first and second playthrough. Despite choosing to play the game vastly different this time while playing as Markus, Connor, and Kara, I'd say 75% of the game felt like mostly like the exact same experience I had the first time I played Detroit Become Human. For some people, different dialogue during a certain part, or seeing something minor happen occur that didn't happen the first time is a bigger deal, but for me it really didn't make my experience with this game during the second play through any more interesting or enjoyable.


This is a real shame since Detroit Become Human heavily leans on the mechanics of choice and branching paths as a heavy component of its gameplay. In fact, Detroit Become Human is the closest thing to a movie game I've ever played. I often wince or roll my eyes when people criticize more cinematic modern games as "movie games" despite these scripted sequences and cutscenes making up a small fraction of the overall experience. However, in Detroit Become Human, the term movie game is absolutely appropriate. The best way I can describe this game is a choose your own adventure film taking place in a scifi setting. The only controller inputs mostly involve trivial button prompts to do menial things like open doors or grabbing an object. There are more demanding QTE events in this game too that can have serious repercussions depending on whether you success or fail, but overall, your interaction with the game is secondary to the story it wants to tell despite those branching paths the game can take.


I will say however, the ending of this game can be DRAMATICALLY different depending on what you do, don't do, who gets killed, and what alternate paths you take one way or another. This is where the real bread and butter of the branching paths really pays off. I really wish there could have been more of these dramatically different scenarios during the bulk of the game, but it's almost worth it just for how different your endings can be. In fact, my ending with 2/3 the characters looked nothing even remotely like it did during my first play through, which I found pretty awesome. Unfortunately some of the writing, no matter what branching or alternative paths the game takes is a bit of a mixed bag.


For whatever reason, I did notice more writing issues during my second playthrough. Character motives and sympathies almost spontaneous changing, events that seem to be trivial having a way more impactful effect on the story than they likely would have in real life, and also some really heavy handed, on the nose social commentary relevant to the cultural/political landscape of the late 2010s really took me out of Detroit Become Humans' story at times. Fortunately, there are many excellent story moments and plot points that will keep you wanting to play, but I'd advise you not to think about things too much during certain parts of the game unless you want to either heavily roll your eyes or throw your hands up in confusion.


One final piece of the limited gameplay of Detroit Become Human I wanted to mention was the inconsistency in some of the dialogue choices while playing. Detroit Become Human gives you alternate ways of responding to characters when interacting with them. These decisions and their outcomes aren't always the most intuitive, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, what is bad is selecting an option, let's say to be "sympathetic" while conversing with another main character and your intentions of selecting that option don't align with the intentions the game had in mind when programming what the character you'e controlling is about to say. This happened mostly with the character Markus for some reason, but it happened more times than I would have like, resulting in certain parts of the game being fudged up for no good reason. Despite this, the dialogue options will typically align with what you were hoping to get across as the character you're playing, but be prepared for whoever you're speaking with to take your meaning in a very different way than what was intended at times.


The audio in Detroit Become Human is mostly reliant on its voice cast and their acting abilities. I can't say there's a single bad or even okay performance in this game. Everything from a vocal presentation standpoint is good to outstanding. This will definitely enhance your immersion and personal investment into what happens to the various characters throughout the game. The music is mostly somber classical sounding tunes with a mix of more high energy tracks reserved for the more action focused or tense situations throughout the game. The score is excellent and there is very little not to like about it.


Finally, from a visual presentation, Detroit Become Human is a very impressive game. Character models and animations are the highlight of this game especially. Emotions and intentions of characters while looking at their face alone will tell you precisely how they're feeling at any given time during the game, and this is all thanks to the facial captures and visual fidelity of the game. The world around you in general is very well done for the mostly is well crafted and dynamic. However, there is a plainess or flatness to some of the environments which can feel a bit gamey in a game that's trying to be as realistic and lifelike as possible. There are enough of these more flat visual parts and areas to prevent this game from being nearly perfect from a visual perspective, but overall they are a relatively small blemish.


I still enjoyed my time with Detroit Become Human during my second playthrough, but I'd be lying if I said the often worm shaped outcomes (limited option in the beginning and the end, but more variety and variations in the middle) during the majority didn't hamper my enjoyment just a little. Even choosing to dramatically alter my approach with each character did little to give me the fresh experience I was hoping for, save the vastly different endings I got with each of them. For some, this will be enough and all that is needed to motivate multiple playthroughs which is something Detroit Become Human heavily relies on. For me, I'll likely not play this game again for some time. It's still a game I'd enjoy replaying in 5 or 6 years once my memory of what happens in it have faded more than they have in the two years since I last play Detroit Become Human. (12/7/25) [36/50]

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 05, 2025, 10:16:04 pm »

There's usually at least one or two good things announced here, so maybe something of note will be revealed, they had that weird statue in the desert tease for some sort of game, probably a big one, but no one is sure what it means.

Not even sure what I'm hoping for, I kinda always pull for Bloodborne anything, so I guess that'll be my prediction lol

There are a lot of games now that have art styles that statue would fit right into, but I think it has to do with a new Elder Scrolls game. I could be completely wrong, but that's my theory.

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Modern Video Games / Re: The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 05, 2025, 04:17:55 pm »

Predictions
- new Elder Scrolls VI trailer (there won't be a date given, but think of this is a hype generator announcement. I can see the game getting an official name here and it also being "the BIG announcement of the evening."
- New Soulsborn game announced
-Remake of beloved Ubisoft game (I'm not sure if this will be an AC game or Far Cry, but it will be a full remake of some beloved game from their catalog and will be their big game for 2026)
- New Virtua Fighter 6 trailer and release date announced
- new Mass Effect 4 trailer with 2026 release date given
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3 teaser
- New Studio Ico game trailer and possible release date
- New Resident Evil 9 trailer shown off (reveals beloved legacy character, probably Leon)
- New Tomb Raider game teased
- New trailer for Intergalactic shown


Hopes
- "leaked" Shenmue IV trailer ends up being real and an official Shenmue IV trailer/announcement is given
- New 2D Metroidvania style Castlevania announced
- New Resident Evil Code Veronica or original RE re-remake teased
- first trailer for Silent Hill 1 remake shown
- Sonic Mania 2 announced
- Half Life 3 announced (this one isn't happening, but I can dream)
- Third game in Stars Wars Jedi series revealed

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Modern Video Games / The Game Awards (TGA) 2025 predictions, hype, and general discussion thread

« on: December 05, 2025, 04:03:30 pm »

While I probably shouldn't get hyped for these Geoff Keighly game reveal events each year, I some how find myself doing so anyways. As someone who loved E3 and misses it, this is sort of the next best things. The Game Awards is next Thursday and I find myself essentially counting down the days until it starts. My expectations are fairly low, but I still get excited for this event and always hope that a handful of games will get announced that I can get properly hyped for over the course of the next year or two.


I thought it would be fun to start talking about TGA 2025 and discussing what are hopes and predictions are, and also discussing anything that get announced following the event.