Wemibelle

Nice! Hopefully this is indicative of Sega bringing a ton of past and future games to PC; more games on more platforms is always a good thing.

Seems like a good thing to do before announcing a remaster of the original tomorrow? Maybe?

@harbinlights: I don't think Giant Bomb uses (or even allows use of) HTML tags in their text editor. You have to highlight the text you want the link to be a part of and click the 'Link' button at the top of the editor.

With E3 this weekend, I figured I’d do a lighter post as no one’s probably gonna care much with all the game news going on. To complement this, I’ve chosen a trio of songs with soft-spoken vocals and (mostly) gentler production.

Commit Ballad - toe (2015)

Toe is a post-rock/math-rock group founded in 2000 and features Yamazaki Hirokazu and Mino Takaaki on guitar, Yamane Satoshi on bass, and Kashikura Takashi on drums. Commit Ballad is a track off their third full album, Hear You. This is a gorgeous song, thanks to both the ethereal instrumentation and the mellow yet haunting vocals.

Trend - Pinokko (2018)

Pinokko is a newer artist, debuting in May of this year. There’s not really a lot out there about her yet, except for a small profile on her website. Trend is her first video. She sings with a very whisper-y style that is reminiscent of Daoko. The production is pretty solid as well, with a fun beat to underlie the singing.

Don't Worry Be Happy - Asoboism (2017)

Asoboism, also known as Tamana (maybe her real name?), began work in 2017 and purports to mix rap and pop into something new. She came onto the scene with this song, Don’t Worry Be Happy. It alternates between nicely rhythmic rap verses and the repetitious chorus invoking the track’s name.

@theht: I chose to use the French voices during this second playthrough, despite not knowing any of the language, both because I thought it might be more in line with the setting and feel of the game and because I remembered those English voices being so inconsistent. I was pretty happy with the French version, although I can't really speak to its quality since I'm not familiar with the language. It did give the game a very different feel though, which I appreciated for a second run-through.

@harinosho: Which region are you in? Because for me in the US, the price of Moonlighter is the same on both Steam and Gog.

I think reporters (actual games reporters like Schreier at Kotaku and Patrick at Waypoint) should report on things if they find them--after all, that's the reason they have sources and do that digging. It's also nice getting "real" information about a game, since PR cycles tend to hide important stuff like gameplay details until far too late, in my opinion. Just announcing a game exists does very little for me, except in extreme circumstances such as a new Nier game getting revealed out of nowhere. I want actual particulars about what kind of game is being made and real gameplay footage, not another meaningless CG trailer.

At the same time, I don't like all the E3 surprises getting revealed before the actual show, as it takes away from a lot of the magic of that show. Those "Holy shit, they're making...?!" moments are some of my favorite historically, and I'd hate to see them disappear entirely due to everything leaking early and being reported. E3 is already becoming a less interesting show with companies doing their own events, and the lack of impactful reveals might just kill it off entirely.

I guess I'd like to see more companies reveal their games earlier, before leaks can happen. Also, they need to do it in more honest ways: showing actual gameplay, giving actual details about what games are (looking at you Fallout 76), and not leading consumers on with strings of pointless teaser trailers and non-information. Lots of things would have to change about the culture around publishers showing their games, mostly in how skittish they are with showing anything before the game is actually out, but it would only benefit the actual paying customers, in my opinion.

Klei is a pretty good example. They've made beat-em-ups (Shank 1 and 2), a stealth ninja game (Mark of the Ninja), a survival game (Don't Starve), a turn-based tactical game (Invisible, Inc.), and their current main project is a simulation/management game (Oxygen Not Included).

After the rushed nature of my last post, I wanted to do something a bit better for this week. I’ve picked out three fantastic songs, two of which are easily among my favorite songs of the year (and the third one is really good too!). I really hope everyone will enjoy them and am ecstatic to share them with others. Let me know what you think!

Full Drive - Tri4th (2018)

Tri4th (pronounced Truth, I assume?) is a jazz band that was formed in 2006. The group started with just three members, but they added two new people and switched pianists over the next 6 years. The current lineup is made up of Tomotaka Sekiya (bass), Yusuke Orita (trumpet), Junnosuke Fujita (saxophone), Daisuke Takeuchi (piano), and Takao Ito (drums). Full Drive is one of their more energetic, upbeat tracks and is a great introduction to the group. It’s a delightful ride from beginning to end, moving from the slick “chorus” to back-to-back solos before ending with a thrilling, cathartic crash. The video is pretty simple, but the cocky performances from the group, particularly the horn players, make it a blast to watch.

Tic - No Buses (2018)

Just a few years old, No Buses is an indie rock group that hasn’t really taken off yet. In fact, the group is so small that I couldn’t even manage to find out anything about them, even the members’ names; all I could learn was that both their Twitter and Youtube profiles were created in 2016. Tic is their first music video, a simple yet intimate look at the quartet and their style of music. This song is not even two and a half minutes long, but it makes great use of every second, catching your ear and keeping you entertained until the end. The sharp hook immediately reminded me of The Strokes, and I even hear a bit of resemblance in the vocal delivery (more in tone than sheer power, obviously). It’s a tight, catchy track that I cannot get enough of and find myself enjoying more and more each time I hear it.

Nakunaru Watashi - Minna no Kodomo-chan (2018)

I’m very excited to talk about Minna no Kodomo-chan, an off-kilter idol duo who just released their first album, Kabe no nai sekai (A World Without Walls), last week. This group mixes the cute and innocent appearances of members Honoka and Cinnamon with bizarre imagery and song titles like “I Want to Kill the Morning” and “I Wish I Died.” Nakanaru Watashi is the most creative--and eccentric--track off their album, an indelible mix of harsh sounds and haunting vocals. The production shifts radically several times throughout the song and never looks back. It slides effortlessly from eerie synth lines to powerful guitar chords and cymbal crashes, creating a thrilling aural journey where you are always kept guessing. The vocals have this unsettling and hypnotic delivery, yet always perfectly suit the production no matter what style the song is in. The video is equally disquieting, with tons of distortion effects and visual filters, shots of the duo with blood dripping from the corners of their mouths or looking dead, and an intensely bright color palette. I ADORE this song and think everyone should experience it at least once.

@bollard: I'm curious what about the UI stands out to you as being awful? Is it the look or just navigating the menus? And are you trying to navigate them with a controller, because I could see that being a bit iffy for sure. As for the movement, I agree with you that it feels slightly off, but I didn't get to play enough to figure out exactly what made me think that--something about your acceleration/deceleration, maybe? The jump just seems to be for navigating the environment or catching a bit more air off the lift vents, I'd guess.

It's got a neat look (although I think the faces are a bit harsh and making "attractive" female characters is a bit hard) and the designs of the monsters/gear seem pretty rad. I'm eager to play more; unfortunately, so is everyone else and I'm too damn impatient to sit in queue for 2-3 hours just to get a chance to play.

@j3ke7zt: I'm a big fan of The Long Dark. It's set in the Canadian wilderness and makes you deal with intense cold and hostile wildlife. It has a great look and some killer sound design, particularly when the blizzards start to kick in. There's no crafting shelters (well, technically, you can build a temporary snow shelter) but you can establish a "base" in one of the various buildings you find. Everything else you mentioned is a part of the game. There's even a decent story mode that's still being worked on, including a reworking of the first two chapters to make them a bit more interesting.