No competition For myself, I have been very disappointed by EA Sports FC. We’re only two games into the ‘new’ franchise and it already feels like a lazy crash grab. I don’t feel the first one made any special effort, that wouldn’t have been in FIFA 24, and this year’s is right back to feeling like a DLC upgrade.
I really wish eFootball or some other rival could give EA some real competition, because at the moment they have absolutely no reason to do better, since people will line up to buy their games either way. And I admit I’m one of them. I want to play as my favourite teams so what am I going to do? Dig out my PlayStation 2 and go back to PES? (Not that that had the teams anyway.)
I have very little faith that FIFA know what they’re talking about when they say they’re going to make their own game, but I think the only real hope for shaking things up is if they team-up with 2K and make a whole new series. It’ll mean microtransactions and other scummy practices but it’s not like EA Sports FC is much better as it is.
I just hope they give it a decent name, apart from anything else. EA Sports FC is so lame to say and to type out. Monson
Under the radar I don’t shirk away from saying I’m a gamer, as no one outside our bubble knows how bad some people that game and use social media can be. We seem to be insulated by the lack of interest from the outside world. All of the drama and death threats seem to go unreported by the mainstream media.
I only hear about that stuff on this site. It must be years since I’ve heard games mentioned negatively on any TV-based news outlet. Usually, it’s a murder-based mention but even then it’s still rare.
So chill out, no one else knows how awful we really are. Bobwallett
The one and only Absolutely loving Silent Hill 2 at the moment and I take back everything I ever said about Bloober Team (except for them having a terrible name). I’m nearing the end now, but it’s got me wondering whether they’re going to do remakes of any of the other games?
Silent Hill 3 might not be as good as the second one but I’d still say it was a superior survival horror and in the top three of the series. The other one is the original but the problem there is it would end up looking very similar to Silent Hill 1 but with a different, and not as good, story.
I think that probably rules them both out, which is a shame in a way because now we’re back to having no good Silent Hill games to look forward. Perhaps it should always just have been the second one and nothing else. Lempton
Pro fence sitter I’ve been on the fence regards the PS5 Pro. Whether I’d get it or not.
I just wondered if you will be getting one to review as I’d really like your opinion on it?
Loved the Mike Bithell interview and I’m super interested in his Tron game. Will be keeping my eye on that one.
What an incredible gesture from Julian. If the N64 hasn’t been taken I sure would love to ask for it. My nephew missed the N64 era. Happy for you to send on my email.
Keep up great work GC. Bertie1 (PSN ID)
GC: Thank you. We assume Sony will send a PS5 Pro, but we’ve not heard anything yet. As you can imagine, we’ve had many people asking after Julian’s retro collection, so we’ll send them on to him later today.
The Suffering – do you remember it? (Midway)
Forgotten birthday Has anyone mentioned already that The Suffering was 20 this year? I’d just like to give a tribute to my favourite PlayStation 2 game.
This was a real all-round-value video game. It had a dark and captivating story, mean action, good humour, and it was quite long for good measure and not drag. A real pity that it’s unlikely this would be given the remake treatment. It’s one of the best candidates. The Suffering, I still salute. Henry
GC: Warner Bros. owns the franchise now, if you want to petition them for a remaster.
Cross-generational I have to agree that the appeal of Mario Party is severely underrated. I played the 2018 game with an 82-year-old grandad, a seven-year-old niece, and me and my wife last Christmas and we all had an excellent time and will no doubt play it or the new game this Christmas as well.
I think sometimes we can lose sight of the kinds of game that are actually popular with ordinary people and what sells and doesn’t sell. Concord lasted two weeks, Mario Party has been around for 26 years. One is a game nobody wanted and the other is one that, as uncool as it might seem to some people, something people have loved for decades.
You were right to bring up that survey about co-op and single-player games in the review, as I’ve thought about that a lot recently and how companies just aren’t making the games people want or enjoy. They’re just trying to get the next Fortnite and they literally don’t care about anything else.
You can see it also in the Bandai Namco news, where they were throwing everything at mobile and online games and letting single-player games suffer for it, even though they were the popular ones. This has been going on for a while now and I still don’t get the sense any of the publishers are learning anything.
Publishers aren’t fulfilling audience demands they’re all just trying to be the one unique case that makes easy money, rather than just settle down and do something more sustainable. Bailey
The day the music died On the commute home from work I was listening to the soundtrack for Final Fantasy 7 and reading some gaming news. A very sad coincidence then that I read that Nobuo Uematsu is retiring from composing for video games.
Fanatasian: Neo Dimension will be his last game related project. Truly a sad day. Hopefully he’ll still compose the odd track here and there but what an indelible mark he’s left on video game music. A true giant and we should all be grateful for his output, even those who may not enjoy the games he’s scored. Sill82
New old ideas Like any fan I’m trying to stay optimistic about the thought of more Halo, but I don’t know how realistic that is given it’s still basically the same developer. My big advice though (as if I should be listened to!) is that the next game should be a full reboot.
Not a modern soft reboot, where it’s more like a sequel, an actual reboot where nothing else that has come before counts anymore. They can still start with a remake of Combat Evolved if that’s the way they want to go but you should be able to play the next game with absolutely no knowledge of any other Halo game.
I’ve played them all and even I’m not sure what was going on in Halo Infinite, which is terrible given that was supposed to be a soft reboot. No half measures this time, start from scratch and try and rebuild the game’s reputation. For me the success of the new game will be based on how much distance it puts between it and what’s come before.
What I actually expect to happen though is just a straight remake before they move into more vague remakes of the next two games. I don’t think it’s going to work though. That kind of storytelling and action is not going to fly nowadays and even as a fan I’m sick of fighting the Covenant.
Halo needs to be new and exciting again, not just a nostalgia fest. Trepsils
Inbox also-rans I was just wondering if you were going to review the Undisputed boxing game? I was a big fan of the Fight Night games and need to a boxing game to scratch that itch, but I want to wait to see if you review it first. Adam_Lion_23 (PSN ID) PS: Can we bring back Inbox magic for a Jak And Daxter remaster for the PlayStation 5 please?
GC: We’re probably not going to, no.
In your opinion, what are the chances of Nintendo releasing a home-only version of the Switch 2? If they had done this with the original Switch, i.e. a home console with no portability factor and with an accordingly lower price, I would have bought one by now. Francis
GC: Without knowing what the Switch 2 is, especially in terms of power, it’s impossible to guess. If you put a gun to our head we’d say it was unlikely.
The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
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Bandai Namco has cut games and staff (Bandai Namco)
Bandai Namco has become the first Japanese publisher to lay off developers this year, although their approach is very different to Western companies.
We’re still not at the end of the year and already over 13,000 people have lost their jobs in the video games industry in 2024. The reasons for this are many and complicated but the simplest explanation is that companies hired too many people during the pandemic and recklessly convinced investors that the increased sales during lockdown would continue.
The problem is not that publishers are suddenly losing money but merely that their business is not showing enough growth, and the simplest short term solution for that is to lay off staff and see an increase in profits as a result.
That’s exactly as short-sighted as it seems but, because Japanese companies don’t put the same emphasis on infinite growth, they’ve been immune from the same problems… until now.
Bandai Namco has become the first Japanese publisher to cut staff, although they’ve done so in a typically Japanese fashion – not by instituting layoffs but by putting a reported 200 staff in ‘expulsion rooms’ and giving them no work to do.
As strange as the practice seems, it’s relatively normal in Japan, as leaving of your own accord looks better to a future employee. It may sound like paradise to some, but it apparently gets old very quickly, with a Bloomberg report suggesting 100 staff have quit so far. However, Bandai denies using the rooms.
Bloomberg suggests execs are trying to cut the staff at Bandai Namco Studios from 1,300 to 1,100 and while that’s not confirmed the publisher has admitted that some recent projects have been ‘discontinued’ based on ‘comprehensive assessments of the situation.’
The news comes despite the recent unexpected success of Elden Ring and this month’s Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero selling 3 million copies in just 24 hours. That’s perfectly in keeping with the actions of Western publishers, such as GTA publisher Take-Two, who laid off more than 500 staff despite making over $2.2 billion in profit.
Interestingly, it is mobile and online titles which are described as being the biggest problems, with Bandai Namco closing titles such as Blue Protocol and Tales Of The Ray, resulting in a ¥21 billion (£108 million) write-down.
Square Enix, which, despite no mass layoffs, has previously been the only Japanese publisher suffering in a similar manner to Western companies has also closed down a number of mobile titles recently.
Even more so than in the West, smartphones are the predominate format in Japan but recently there’s been signs that the mobile market has peaked worldwide, coinciding with a string of failures with live service games – most obviously Sony’s Concord.
This is believed to be a result of oversaturation and the fact that people simply don’t have time to play dozens of live service style games, that constantly demand your attention.
Nevertheless, it seems as if the cancelled projects at Namco Bandai are primarily for console video games, although the report is vague in its description of games that would’ve featured characters from Naruto and One Piece.
However, another reportedly cancelled project is one that was commissioned by Nintendo, which will certainly have been a console title. It’s unclear what the game was but Bandai Namco has collaborated with Nintendo many times over the years, on projects ranging from Star Fox Assault to Super Smash Bros.
Whether these de facto layoffs are the start of a new trend in Japan, or just a one-off, is unknown but it seems clear that this year’s tally of industry job losses is still not complete.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero – 3 million sales and 200 layoffs (Bandai Namco)
A divided fan base, weaker sales, but stronger player numbers paint a murky picture for the launch of EA Sports FC 25.
EA Sports FC 25 certainly aimed to impress, when it came out on September 27, introducing a new 5v5 game mode called Rush and adding a new AI system to make teammates smarter.
Change isn’t always welcome though, and the game’s reception, from both critics and fans, can be summarised as mixed, but better than EA Sports FC 24.
When it comes to how many fans have bought EA Sports FC 25, launch sales for this year’s title dropped by 4.6% compared to EA Sports FC 24.
Despite this, EA Sports FC 25 was still the best-selling video game of September, according to Gamesindustry.biz’s Christopher Dring.
In one of the episodes on the site’s podcast, however, it is revealed that the Ultimate Edition of the game, which let you play it before the official release date, saw sales increase by 6% in the UK, compared to EA Sports FC 24.
EA Sports FC 25 is set to be the year’s biggest seller (Electronic Arts)
While Xbox and PlayStation don’t release data for how many fans are playing their games, SteamDB does reveal the number of active PC players.
According to the site, 110,000 people played EA Sports FC 25 on the first Sunday after launch, compared to the 82,000 who played EA Sports FC 24 on the same day last year.
However, player numbers for EA Sports FC 25 on PC dropped by 12,000 in the following two weeks, from Sunday to Sunday, which is more than the 4,000 decrease last year’s release saw in the same period.
What is trending up, however, is critic reviews, as EA Sports FC 25 has scored a rating of 77 out of 100 on Metacritic, compared to EA Sports FC 24’s 75.
The score is much more generous over at OpenCritic, where this year’s release has a 76% critics recommended rating, compared to EA Sports FC 24’s 59%.
Fan opinion is far worse reading, however, with a user review score of 2.8 out of 10 on Metacritic for EA Sports FC 25, even if that’s more than EA Sports FC 24’s 2.4.
The overall score on Steam is ‘Mixed’, with 7,600 out of the total 14,500 reviews being labelled negative, with comments equally polarising.
‘Initial thoughts: I gotta say, movement is much more fluid and more responsive. Is it worth the price? H*** no. It’s more like a good update for previous the FC,’ says Pero.
‘It’s an improvement over the last couple of years that much is clear,’ UK Craigie says.
‘Instant uninstall, what a terrible game. Played FIFA my whole life and it seems to be getting worse and worse,’ Wooblay says.
EA Sports FC 25’s Rush mode (Electronic Arts)
Over decades of yearly releases, FIFA/EA Sports FC has become the most popular football simulator in the world and satisfying all of the millions of fans will always be an impossible task.
Despite this, senior producer Sam Rivera told GameCentral, ahead of the release of EA Sports FC 25, that they’re always looking at what the fans want.
‘With a franchise such as FC, ensuring we’re staying true to what our players know and love, and being authentic to the beautiful game itself, is incredibly important,’ he said.
‘However, we’re also acutely aware that we have to constantly innovate with each new entry to the series. Throughout the whole planning and development process for FC 25, we’ve been constantly listening to player feedback.’
You can’t dribble past those fan comments (Electronic Arts)
If there’s one trend revival that has come to define 2024, it’s gotta be indie sleaze. We’ve seen everyday teens and celebrities alike co-opting the style in their fashion and in photoshoots like no other this year, but for some, the early 2000’s energy runs deeper than that.
Take, for example, Kim Petras. The pop star’s brand new collaboration with Ed Hardy is a manifestation of decades of early aughts lore that has infiltrated the singer’s aesthetic since she first came onto the scene more than six years ago. Even in those early days (think hits like “I Don’t Want It At All” or “Heart to Break”), you could totally envision the singer wearing an Ed Hardy trucker hat and mini skirt in the recording studio.
“I remember super vividly in high school stealing my sister’s Ed Hardy black long sleeve that she would wear as a dress all the time,” Petras tells PAPER. “My sister was really cool in school and I was not, so I thought it was the coolest thing. [Ed Hardy] is forever burned into my brain.”
The new collection, which marks Petras’ second collaboration with the brand this year, mixes her hardcore Slut Pop aesthetic with the signature Ed Hardy look. It features 12 items, including 10 apparel styles and two trucker hats, which she was heavily involved in designing and pulls from her distinct obsession with Y2K reality TV like The Simple Life and Rock of Love.
But where do the Ed Hardy and Kim Petras multiverses meet? “Well, they meet at a skunk that smokes weed and says ‘famous’ under it,” she says, referencing the brand’s iconic character. “I really relate to that skunk.” In addition to the signature skunk symbol, the pieces include a black zip-up hoodie, denim mini skirt, low waist lounge pants and embroidered leather jacket. Rather than pulling from pop culture, Petras’ moodboard for this collection was more so inspired by everyday people from the early 2000’s who would post pictures in their bedrooms wearing Ed Hardy.
“The inspo is a little more autobiographical than usual,” she says. “Usually, I would just slap Goldie Hawn on any inspiration board and call it a day, but this time around I went a little off the rails and was inspired by a lot of personal imagery from this time from me in Germany coming up, having one Ed Hardy item and feeling cool in it.”
Shot by legendary nightlife photographer The Cobra Snake, who was actually on the ground during the indie sleaze era, the collection is made for the modern day rebel who wants to take slutty selfies in the bedroom. but also rock the apparel on a night out or at a Kim Petras concert. “This collection is something fun I wanted to do for the fans, because they deserve for something to be happening, and I’m so anxious to be getting back to them with music.”
It’s been a busy year for Petras, who finished up touring the world in support of last year’s Feed the Beast and Problematique, and was recently featured on Katy Perry’s “Gorgeous” as well as “Reason Why” by SOPHIE. New music is being worked on, though, she tells PAPER.
“The number one thing I can say confidently is that I’ve been making more songs than ever and I’m really trying to make something that I’ve never done,” she says. “It’s definitely going to be really different for me.”
Ed Hardy x Kim Petras is now available exclusively on Ed Hardy’s online store with brick-and-mortar retailers to follow.
PlayStation The Concert launches next April (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Tickets go on sale this Friday for PlayStation The Concert, a new ‘state-of-the-art’ live show featuring music from video games such as God Of War and The Last Of Us.
Sony is taking the 30th anniversary of the original PlayStation very seriously, with the release of (now sold out) PS1-insipired limited edition consoles and a range of controllers and other promotional items.
The publisher has also just announced that it will be launching what’s called PlayStation The Concert, a live music show that will tour the world.
Premiering in Dublin in April 2025, before going on a world tour through 2026, the ‘state-of-the-art’ live show will offer music from titles such as God Of War, The Last Of Us, Ghost Of Tsushima, and the Horizon series with tickets going on sale this Friday.
‘It’s a brand-new state of the art and groundbreaking arena show which will celebrate the iconic music from some of PlayStation’s biggest games with some incredible staging,’ the organiser says.
Curiously, despite being part of the the 30th anniversary celebrations, there is currently no indication of any games being featured that weren’t released either on the PlayStation 4 or 5. Whether other, older, titles will also be acknowledged is unclear.
The show will travel globally, visiting over 200 cities, starting in Dublin on April 15, with these UK dates to follow:
PlayStation The Concert 2024 UK dates
April 21 – Birmingham
April 22 – Manchester
April 23 – Leeds
April 24 – Newcastle
April 25 – Glasgow
April 27 – London
Tickets can be bought on the PlayStation website starting Friday, October 18 at 15:00 BST.
‘An innovative multi-screen design, combining advanced LED and projection technologies, will enhance the event and deliver the most iconic moments and imagery from these games,’ the organiser says.
‘Coupled with surround sound, the show delivers breathtaking visual and audio depth, creating an immersive experience that will allow the audience to relive their gaming adventures like never before.’
Although this is the first to be given prominent PlayStation branding, similar concerts have been held before, such as the one conducted by Eímear Noone earlier in the year.
Feel Kratos’ wrath, in concert (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Super Mario Party Jamboree – another fun party (Nintendo)
The latest entry in Nintendo’s virtual board game series has more characters and more mini-games than ever, and even a few new ideas.
Mario Party is not something you expect to see on a list of the best multiplayer games of all time but as far as we’re concerned it deserves to be there. Clearly, it’s not a hyper competitive online game like Call Of Duty but that’s the point. Super Mario Party Jamboree focuses on online play more than any other previous entry but it’s still by far the most fun when played with four people in the same room, all arguing over who cheated and what’s not fair.
A recent survey revealed that local multiplayer games remain extremely popular with most people, and yet they’re extremely rare and it’s almost unknown for a major publisher to release one. It’s a shame, because not only is it far more sociable than playing online but it’s the best way to introduce non-gamers to the world of video games. And, in that respect, Mario Party has been serving as an ambassador for over 26 years.
The series has varied greatly in quality over that time, depending on how many pointless gimmicks each particular entry is burdened with, but ever since its Switch revival, with 2018’s Super Mario Party, Nintendo has kept things sensibly straightforward, culminating in Jamboree, which is undoubtedly the best Mario Party so far.
The last release in the series was 2021’s Mario Party Superstars, which was essentially a remake compilation of boards from earlier games. This is a direct sequel to the 2018 game though, in the sense that it’s a full-bloodied game with all-new boards and lots of new features.
If you’ve never played a Mario Party game before, the concept is purposefully uncomplicated. Each game features a number of virtual board games, not in the modern sense of complicated pseudo role-playing games but something closer in complexity to Snakes and Ladders. There is no single goal though and instead you’re trying to get to the space with a Super Star on it, which can be bought with earned coins – once acquired a new star then appears somewhere else on the board.
You set the number of turns before you start, as you and three others endlessly tour around the board and the winner becomes the player with the most stars at the end of the game. Each board has different elements, such as one in which you drive around in a racing car or another where the tide goes in and out and a volcano explodes, but they all work in the same basic way.
There are additional complications, such as shops where you can buy power-ups to increase your number of dice roles or nobble your opponents, but new for Jamboree is the idea of ‘buddies’. These work as AI companions, whose abilities vary slightly depending on who it is – out of the wide array of playable Mushroom Kingdom characters on offer – but it’s always things like increasing your dice role or letting you buy two stars at once.
If the game was just that it wouldn’t hold anyone’s attention for long, but the other main element is that after each round you play a mini-game with the other players, either a free-for-all, team game, or 1 vs. 3. These generally only last a minute or two but considering there’s 110 of them (a considerable increase from the 80 of the 2018 game) it’s amazing that there’s almost no duds.
At the same time, there’s nothing that’s likely to be evolved into a full game but it’s all good, silly fun. There’s one where you’re trying to race along a rickety platform as Shy Guys try to knock you off with timber logs, a 1 vs. 3 game where one player is using a plastic mallet to steal coins off the others, a free-for-all where you’re running around a Super Mario Galaxy style planetoid activating flags, and a team game where you’re trying to collect coins while jumping on a seesaw.
A minority of mini-games use motion controls, from a mini-triathlon to a competition to bang nails into a plank, and while they work fine you can choose to turn these off if you want. In fact, the whole game is highly customisable, with a whole Pro Rules set-up that removes some of the randomness for anyone that resents the reliance on luck.
Super Mario Party Jamboree – some of the mini-games use motion controls (Nintendo)
The mini-games might be simplistic but there’s so many of them, and the presentation is so varied and amusingly bizarre, they never fail to entertain. Or at least that’s true when you’re playing against other people in the same room. There is an online option but it’s really not the same, while playing on your own, or even with just less than four human players, is an exercise in misery.
That said, Jamboree does offer a lot more to do on your own than usual, with a quasi-story mode based around exploring the boards without a time limit. It’s not thrilling but a surprising amount of effort has gone into it and, like most of the additional modes, it’s an excuse to play the mini-games in a different context.
These other modes strip out the boardgame element to focus on just the mini-games but two major new online options extend things even further. Koopathlon has you competing with 20 people on specially selected mini-games, while Bowser Kaboom Squad is a lot more involved and has eight people running around a town trying to collect bombs to fire at a giant ‘imposter’ Bowser.
Paratroopa Flight School is an unexpected bonus (Nintendo)
On top of this are three other completely random local modes that just seem to be a result of Nintendo messing around with motion controls and seeing what they can come up with. Toad’s Item Factory is a fun little puzzle game for up to four players, while Rhythm Kitchen is a rhythm action game with some unexpectedly extravagant presentation.
Meanwhile, Paratroopa Flight School is a cross between Pilotwings and the wing cap levels from Super Mario 64. Here, you fly around by flapping and angling your arms, while competing in Crazy Taxi style matches or trying to collect Parabiddybuds in competition with another player.
With seven separate boards (including new remakes) and more characters and mini-games than any previous game, Jamboree is bursting with content. Some of it is locked at first but even though there’s what’s essentially a battle pass it’s usually quite unclear what you’ve got to do to unlock them. Getting the two extra characters (Pauline and Ninji) seems especially random but that’s barely a quibble.
No one would pretend Super Mario Party Jamboree is doing anything radically new, but this is certainly not a low effort sequel. There’s more content than ever before and some of the ancillary modes are genuinely a lot of fun. There’s a reason the series has lasted this long and as far as board game staples go this is vastly more entertaining than the traditional family game of Risk.
Mario Party has an important role to play as a gateway game, where everyone can enjoy it no matter their age or video game experience. There’re very few other titles you can say that about and that gives Jamboree real purpose, beyond just being a fun and silly mini-game collection.
Super Mario Party Jamboree review summary
In Short: Probably the best Mario Party so far, with an impressive amount of content and gameplay that remains fun and accessible for absolutely everybody.
Pros: More boards, characters, and mini-games than ever and almost all of them are good. More online options than before and new modes like Bowser Kaboom Squad and Paratroopa Flight School are very welcome.
Cons: The main Mario Party mode has no significant new ideas, although you could argue that’s a positive.
Score: 9/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch Price: £49.99 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Cube Release Date: 17th October 2024 Age Rating: 3
Kick co-founder Ed Craven shuts the door in Dr Disrespect’s face (LinkedIn/YouTube)
Dr Disrespect might struggle to find a new home if he isn’t remonetised on YouTube, as Kick co-founder Ed Craven shuts the door on a potential deal.
After years of speculation about his mystery Twitch ban, back in 2020, Dr Disrespect recently admitted that the reason he was banished from the platform was because he had messaged a minor.
The admission resulted in him being kicked out of the game studio he co-founded, while losing thousands of fans and being demonetised on YouTube – where he started streaming in 2020.
Dr Disrespect hasn’t been remonetised on YouTube yet and there has been speculation of him moving to another platform, but that won’t be Kick, as its co-founder says it ‘would make zero sense’.
When asked if Kick would consider offering Dr Disrespect a contract to stream on his platform, despite the recent controversy, co-founder Eddie Craven said on his own stream:
‘Making a deal with Dr Disrespect, from a financial and business perspective right now, would make zero sense.
‘It would do more harm for Kick and it’d be a waste of money at this point in time, is my opinion. Without getting into drama, just looking at it from a business perspective, it’d be a waste of money.’
Dr Disrespect has reapplied for monetisation on YouTube, but it appears that it’s still under consideration, with no statement from either side yet.
Where would Dr Disrespect go if he doesn’t get remonetised? (YouTube)
Not long before the controversial streamer was outed for texting a minor,Dr Disrespect revealed that he turned down an £8 million-a-year contract to stream on Kick last year.
He added that it would take $50 million (£40 million) to get him to move to Kick, because he felt ‘established’ on YouTube.
If Dr Disrespect doesn’t get remonetised on YouTube, he might struggle to find a new home, now that Kick has distanced itself from him.
He’s also permanently banned on Twitch, which doesn’t leave many other options, outside of TikTok and Facebook, which aren’t well known for video game livestreaming.
Dr Disrespect teased his comeback with a chess vs. checkers Twitter post (Twitter)
Bad news for some who thought they got their hands on the limited edition PS5 (Sony)
The huge demand for the PlayStation 5 Limited Edition appears to have caused technical difficulties for Argos, who are cancelling ‘some’ of the pre-orders.
Last month, Sony revealed that it’s celebrating PlayStation’s 30th anniversary by offering fans the chance to get their hands on new PS1-inspired console bundles, with pre-orders going live a week later.
Unsurprisingly, most of the PlayStation 5 bundles sold out almost immediately, and even less of a surprise, many immediately went up for sale on eBay by scalpers, for as much as £8,000.
Fortunately, last week, some retailers restocked and started taking on more pre-orders, but Argos is now cancelling some of them because they were ‘processed incorrectly’.
On Monday fans started posting messages they’d received from Argos, saying there was a ‘mass cancellation’ of pre-orders, with no further explanation.
However, when some fans contacted Argos about this they were told that the cancellation email was sent in error, and that their order was still valid.
Today, however, Argos has confirmed the bad news, that ‘some’ of their pre-orders have indeed been cancelled.
‘We saw huge demand for the PlayStation 5 30th Anniversary Limited Edition console and unfortunately had to cancel some orders, after they were processed incorrectly, Argos told Eurogamer.
‘We have contacted the customers affected to tell them how sorry we are for the disappointment this has caused and confirm they will receive a full refund.’
Argos hasn’t released a general statement about the glitch, or who might be affected, so it seems that the only way to know for sure, if your pre-order is still valid, is if you haven’t received any information about it – or by contacting Argos directly and asking them.
If you missed out on the initial and restock pre-order periods for the PlayStation 5 30th Anniversary Edition console, it appears that the ship has now sailed, as retailers are no longer taking orders.
The same goes for the PlayStation 5 30th Anniversary controller and the PlayStation Portal Limited Edition, which will probably not come back into stock again.
You can’t get more PlayStation than playing Astro Bot on the 30th Anniversary console (Sony)
Multi-generational gaming I think the most interesting thing from that Pokémon hack is the information that the next game is going to be cross-gen, which is probably the only substantial news we’ve had about a Nintendo Switch 2 game so far. Unfortunately, because Game Freak are known for being so backwards in terms of technology, it’s hard to know whether this will be commonplace when the Switch 2 comes out or if it’s just for Pokémon.
Given all the talk of backwards compatibility though I’m going to guess that it will be common and that, just like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, most or all games will be cross-gen for the first few years.
I can’t say I’m very happy about this, as I would’ve liked to see what Nintendo could do with more power, but unfortunately Microsoft and Sony has made this approach the standard now. You could also infer that maybe this means the Switch 2 isn’t going to be that much more powerful anyway, although that might be a bit of a stretch. Tolly
Hacked off I obviously feel bad for all the people whose personal details are now in the hands of weirdo fans but isn’t it weird how most of these hacks never actually reveal anything surprising? The fact that Game Freak are working on a new Pokémon game for Switch 2 is not much of a revelation, and while it being cross-gen is definitely interesting, that’s also something that could easily change before release.
Other than that, what was it all for? To know about a bunch of movies that may or may not happen. And remember, this is Nintendo we’re talking about there so they are going to go full ninja lawyer on whoever did this. The last person that crossed them ended up owing them $14.5 million and that was only for piracy. Imagine what they’re going to push for when it comes to these hackers, they’ll have them shot into space!
The only one of these that actually proper details was, not Rockstar, but Insomniac. Although none of these ever have dates attached to anything. Makes me wonder if publishers just decide that at the last minute, and don’t really have much of a clue most of the time. Galston
Convenient excuse It was obvious streaming would be the next thing Microsoft turns to, after it was clear that console sales were tanking, but I really don’t see how it’s ever going to become a big deal given what Wi-Fi is like at the moment. That means you can’t play your games on your move, you can’t play them at all if you’re in the country, and you’re probably going to have tons of lag and glitches even if you do live in London. Especially as, in my experience, Xbox Cloud Gaming works worse than other similar services like Nvidia.
But then I thought occurred to me, what if it is successful? What if, as you say, people just put up with it and after all these years of slowly improving specs, where 4K and 60fps are now almost a standard, we just start putting up with tons of lag, unreliable controls, and glitching views.
Sound unlikely? The main benefit of streaming is convenience and in my experience convenience means all other positives are always ignored. We destroyed the entire concept of buying games as physical media purely to avoid having to get up and change the disc. I’m worried what people will be willing to put up with just so they don’t need a console. Purple Ranger
PlayStation Wii I understand where the Reader’s Feature, about the PlayStation 5 being the worst PlayStation console, comes from but for me I don’t think it’s anywhere near that clearcut. I think the most interesting thing about that the console is I have no idea how it’s going to end up.
I have no idea how long it’s going to last, how many exclusives will be released for it, and what proportion will be traditional single-player games. Can anyone claim to know any of these things? I doubt it, because I have a hard time believing Sony knows either.
The PlayStation 5 is an enigma: hugely popular but by the time it got to its halfway point Sony just gave up on it and went into minimum effort mode. There’s only one other console I can think of like that and weirdly that’s the Wii. A console that ended up being quickly forgotten and has one of the worst reputations of any Nintendo console. Cody
Rumours from From I know Shadow Of The Erdtree was this year but I’m still impatient to learn what FromSoftware are working on next. Do we have any idea at all? I’m not even sure what I’d like them to do, I just know I want more.
It’ll be interesting though, because this will be their first game since Elden Ring blew up and they really entered the big leagues. So if it’s going to have an even bigger budget, as it inevitably will, what will it be? Something completely different or what they have been doing turned up to 11?
I don’t know why I’m asking these questions, as I’m pretty sure nobody knows, but I can’t wait to find out anyway. Bruce
GC: They were hiring for a new giant robot game, but it seems a bit late for Armored Core 6 DLC, so it’s probably a seventh entry – but that’s likely to be several years away at this point. There’s no clue as to what their next game will be.
On the buses So, I was an excited and curious fellow, taking a second holiday in Norway. I’d just been to Turkey and hated the overbearing heat and uninteresting locations. At least my Steam Deck OLED kept me great company, until I left it stranded on a bus. I spent days hoping I’d hear from the bus company but luck wasn’t on my side. I purchased the system the first day the model went on sale and I vigorously used it, even more so than my PlayStation 5.
I was on my way to a fjord cruise when I accidentally left it behind and it still haunts me today. I’ve been careless enough to lose valuable items before: my college ID, keys, my wallet and bank card. But I always managed to replace them and learn as much as I can from my mistakes. This is my most expensive mistake and I can’t see fit to ever argue against the fact that I won’t see my lost system again. I can only replace the handheld with something stronger, faster, and overall more value for money.
I’ll be honest, as much as I did love and cherish my OLED it had its issues. From the disappointing performance of Hogwarts Legacy to Starfield looking like a PS1 game at low settings. That’s why I can fathom the fact that I may have to save for a more powerful system. So far, my heart is set on the ASUS ROG Ally X. I’ve heard great things about it but it is pricey, but an upgrade will always come at a price. Sony knows that better than anyone.
The lesson Valve need to learn is that they may very well have to upgrade their system as soon as possible. If I’m not even considering re-purchasing their system because of technical weaknesses that’s quite the flaw. One truth is certain though, I’ll purchase the Ally X and do absolutely everything in my power to never repeat my mistake ever again. At least, I can try. Shahzaib Sadiq
No way out I don’t know what’s worse for Bungie, if the Destiny mobile game flops or if it succeeds. If it flops then Sony will think Destiny is even more of a has-been franchise and if it succeeds then they’ll think that they can still make money off Destiny without needing Bungie. It’s a Catch-22 situation.
I worry that too much damage has been done already and that when Marathon is an inevitable failure, Bungie will be chopped up and made a support studio for other live service games. Sony has hinted as much already. And that’s assuming Sony even carries on making live service games after all this, as I’m sure there must be many questions as to whether it’s working out for them. It’s not a good situation. Swany
Free to a good home I’ve been clearing out my parents’ loft and have found my old N64, PS1, all the games I had for each, and a load of gaming magazines from the 90s. Wanted to check if any of the folk here were interested in any/all, and if so if GC were able to please help put us in touch?
The N64 and all games are boxed (excluding the three at the front of the photo, although I do have three different boxes, no doubt to a swap which became permanent!). The N64 also has the memory expansion, and I distinctly remember writing in to Digitiser to say how cheeky Nintendo were by not building this into the original console!
All the PS1 games are boxed, although the console itself isn’t (I bought it and most of the games second-hand from a mate).
Controllers/memory cards/cables, etc. are all there, happy to provide specifics to those interested. I believe everything works, but nothing’s been used for nearly a quarter of a century and I don’t have the technology to check.
All free to a good home. Julian
GC: If anyone wants it, we can pass on their email to you.
Julian's other retro gaming mags
Julian's other retro gaming mags
Julian's N64 games
Julian's N64 games
Julian's Sega mags
Julian's Sega mags
Julian's PS1 and games
Julian's PS1 and games
Inbox also-rans I always use ShopTo for my day one games. They even offer (I think) £5 credit back if it’s delayed. Only had one instance where I’ve had to use that! SlideAway1983 (PSN ID)
I’m surprised that Hogwarts Legay has never had any DLC up till. I guess they got the developer working on the sequel ASAP. Curious to see how quickly that means we’ll see it, as you almost never see that kind of turnaround anymore. Ansel
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Much like whoever tweeted the viral, “I was a Julian Casablancas fan before the Brat remix,” t-shirt design, I too have always been a massive Strokes fan. So the magnitude of sitting across from Casablancas, upstairs at a Lower East Side hotel in September, was significant. We were there to talk about The Voidz — the Casablancas-led band with Jeff Kite (keys) Alex Carapetis (drums), Amir Yaghmai (guitar), Jake Bercovici (bass) and Jeramy “Beardo” Gritter (guitar) — and their album Like All Before You. A brisk 10-track jaunt between genres and immersive sound, the band’s third studio album could only have been created with an imaginative lyricist and ocular polymath like Casablancas slouched in-studio.
The Voidz debut Tyranny was released a decade ago to mixed reviews and cult success, with many critics comparing it to The Strokes discography (its sonic rebellion and melodic chaos made it hard to reference anything else). Watching it live, however, first in 2018 at a tiny Atlanta festival called Shaky Knees and then last Halloween during the band’s Murmrr residency, it became easier to feel in on a stellar secret. Tracks such as “Human Sadness” stimulate the senses like a slow building high. It may be difficult to articulate what you’re experiencing, but it’s a positive one, nonetheless.
The New York band’s second album, 2018’s Virtue, was just as astounding as their first, with sharp lyrics: like “Just because something’s popular, doesn’t mean it’s good” in “Permanent High School” or “I want out of this world” in “Pink Ocean”— and a more symphonic bend. So where The Voidz would head for their third album was anybody’s guess. However, from the album’s instrumental opener “Overture,” which dramatically plays as if suggesting a ceremony is about to begin, you can hear they’ve landed in the right place.
At the time of our interview, it was unknown that Casablancas’ vocals would be featured on the Charli XCX Brat remix album. “Mean girls featuring julian casablancas” has since stirred up online discourse, from fans of the New York rocker who are thrilled about his contribution to listeners dissecting the meaning of his line, “Fucked in a fun way we get/ Kept it vague so you could guess.” Four years have also passed since The Strokes released their album, The New Abnormal, with plenty of press and fanfare in the time between, so we kept our focus to Like All Before You, out everywhere now.
Ahead of the band’s two sold-out shows at Los Angeles’ The Orpheum and New York City’s Apollo, PAPER spoke to Julian Casablancas about The Voidz, AI and working hard to make it all seem effortless.
Thanks for taking the time to chat.
No problem.
I’m really excited about the album.
Thank you.
Typically, I listen to an album once before an interview, but this is definitely a playlist-worthy album. It’s been a while since Tyranny was released in 2014, a decade. So for The Voidz, how has the approach to making music in general or putting together an album changed?
It was our first record, so we were figuring each other out and now we know each other really well. I think… [gets distracted by music playing in the background] Is it better to have quiet for an interview?
Honestly, I’m down for both. It was kind of nice.
I’ll just play it on my phone.
Love that you have your own bar up here. Also that we can see right into people’s windows.
That’s New York. Are you from here?
I’m from South Carolina. I moved here in 2018.
Charlottesville?
No that’s Virginia. Charlotte is in North Carolina though.
Oh wait. Myrtle Beach.
The fact that you know where that is… scary. What do you know about Myrtle Beach?
Biker week. Black Biker Week.
Yes, and weird amusement parks. We used to vacation there at these trashy resorts that I thought were really nice until I got older. We would try to get into the bars.
Sounds fun. I’ve never been, but I have a friend.
You’ve got to bring The Voidz tour to Myrtle Beach.
Sounds… cool?
So we were talking about 2014.
The process of recording is probably my least favorite topic. The process is good, but the topic… it’s like putting a puzzle together. “I put the corners first.” It’s just not fun to talk about making a puzzle. It’s like, “You put the greens there and the yellows there.” Is there one that you prefer? Sorry.
I get that. It’s hard for people who aren’t making albums to understand how you come up with a finished project without being like, “Okay, how exactly did it happen?” But I get what you’re saying.
Well, how do you write an article?
Oh God, that’s a hard one. I do the research, obviously. Sometimes, I start from the end or an excerpt I like and then write around it. But it’s different every time. Sometimes it just happens.
Okay, well, what is the question that you would like to be asked if you were interviewed?
If I was asked about my writing process–
It doesn’t have to be about your writing process. It can be about anything.
I guess what I enjoy about any certain topic? What’s the reason I keep doing it? Why do I keep writing? Or, why do I live in New York as opposed to somewhere else? The driving source of the decision to do something?
So, what’s the question exactly?
What’s the driving reason to create? What personally makes you want to make music?
What personally makes me want to make music? What makes you personally want to write?
Honestly, I love to do it. It feels good to do it. I’ve always done it. Even if no one read it, I would still be doing it like when I was a kid. I do enjoy putting it out there and having people interact with it. But even if people weren’t interacting with it, I would still be doing something with writing.
Cool, I don’t know if I have that same passion.
Yeah?
Probably more for politics or for wrangling people with talents that I think can do cool things together.
Is that how you feel The Voidz were initiated? Just getting cool people together?
I was starting over in some ways, so it’s been a long process. But maybe.
People hone in on lines all the time and the ones that are special to me are usually not the ones people focus in on.
What was it that drew you all back into the studio to do Like All Before You? Why go ahead and release a body of work, as opposed to singles or as opposed to doing just shows?
The same question? Why do we do things that we do?
Specifically to release music, though.
Someone gave us a contract. [Laughs] If we didn’t have a contract, we’d probably just put the songs out anyway. Try to figure out how to not waste things you put out, in terms of what’s lucrative. If you can put out 10 songs and make $10, or put out 10 songs and get $0, you try to do it the $10 way. So it’s a mixture of just putting music out and trying to do it in a way that is popular or successful, so that you can eventually make money or tour.
Speaking of touring, I got to check out last year’s Halloween residency, which was very immersive. What was the ideation behind that? Why did you want to do something that felt more a party, as opposed to a typical show?
So why do we do things? [Laughs] I’m kidding. I guess we wanted to play a concert.
But I got a tarot reading, I went to an arcade.
It was a Halloween show I’ve always wanted to do. We did it for the video, like a ’80s Halloween costume party. The coolest haunted houses I’ve ever been to are the shittiest, so we didn’t do a haunted house vibe. I originally wanted to do that, a full labyrinth where people come out and scare you, but having old-time jazz afterward and that after party vibe was really my favorite part. But it happened to fall on Halloween, so we tried to make it special. This old synagogue had all these extra rooms. These arcade people offered us their arcade games. A lot of things fell into place and we tried to make it a fun evening.
You have a show coming up at the Orpheum in LA and at the Apollo in Harlem. Those are thoughtful choices. Why those venues?
They were kind of the perfect size for what we were looking for. It was actually hard to find a venue in New York because Radio City is almost too big, and then Irving Plaza is kind of too small. And I just want to make it special. The Knockdown Center was offered it to us. You have your dream places and then you have the reality of the situation you have to deal with. So sometimes you’re stuck with what you got. And if you have options or cool things come up, then that’s lucky and fun. If we could have an after party at the Cotton Club, that would be the cherry on top.
You worked with Ivan Wayman, Justin Raisen and SADPONY [Jeremiah Raisen] on the album, and it feels like The Voidz collaborate really well with each other. Is it hard to find producers that don’t conflict with the process you have as a band? How do you seek out people that you know will add to the sound, as opposed to fuck with it?
It’s trial and error, I guess. We were going for a bigger sound and maybe what they did was different, or what Justin did, I should say, was different. So we worked backwards from that a little bit, and Ivan is someone that we worked with for a long time and who we get in the trenches and do stuff with together, very collaboratively. So I would say the Raisen brothers were more of the big production stuff at a big studio, and we used a lot of that, but then afterward, with Ivan, we went through everything and made it all Voidzy.
How do you make it Voidzy?
It’s a new way of capturing all the lightning in bottles, but also capturing the effortlessness and spontaneity and first-take magic. It’s this constant exercise of working hard to make it seem effortless. I guess that’s what creates, hopefully, mind-blowing energy, which is like, “Wow, they just stumbled in.” I’ve been trying to do that since the beginning.
I have to ask about “Prophecy of the Dragon.” The thrashing guitar part is so great. I’m curious, lyrically, what were you trying–
Cool tattoo.
Thanks, which one? The Playboy one?
The Playboy one and the star.
Yeah, I have a lot of star situations. Stars orbiting people’s heads.
What’s that one?
A girl that’s a planet.
Cool, with a braid.
Yeah. Are the lyrics in “Prophecy of the Dragon” about interpersonal change? That line, “I used to be a lounge lizard/ Now look at me, I’m a wizard.” Am I being too deep about it?
Playing with lyrics… all art. I’m sure for your writing too, it’s pieces of things that you’ve read or liked, or trying to recreate the vibe of everything you’re putting out. I don’t know, why do I do the things I do? I’m just kidding.
I asked him the same question 15 times. That’s the subtitle.
That specific line, the “lounge lizard” thing and “now look at me, a wizard” is probably a later rhyming construction. It felt like a cheesy biographical rock song. Also, we played in a small venue when we were fucking around and working on the song. But that’s not how I have always thought of myself. I mean, it’s the truth, I guess. We used to play in small places, and now we do all kinds of videos and things that create these illusions that make us seem better than we are in some ways. I guess that’s all I meant. People hone in on lines all the time and the ones that are special to me are usually not the ones people focus in on. I was thinking of a random song the other day, and I was thinking of the line that I love about it and the lines that people always talk about.
What was the song?
Was it “When Will the Time of These Bastards End”? Was it that song? Shit, it’ll come later.
How do these lyrics come to you? Do they just pop in your head when you’re watching TV, or are you writing them down when you’re in the middle–
It was “7 Horses.” For me, it’s more about the chorus and the “save it for the battle” line. I like the song, but then I feel people might take the line [“But if I could beg you maybe stop punishing me”] the random emotional line that I think is filler. People might be like, “This is him being raw and sad,” and it’s like no.
That’s the scariest thing: someone reading their album review and being like, what is she talking about?
Oh I don’t, it’s fine.
Was there a moment in the studio when you felt like everything was coming together?
It’s a good question, actually, but I’m bad at summoning these things. The truth is, it comes together way after it’s done in my mind. I’m so in the trenches and I can barely understand what I’m working on by the end. It was really fucking powerful for me and cool to hear the record recently because every part, every chorus, you’re getting to the end of it and there’s a moment where you’re like, “That’s cool, that feels powerful.” And you keep it, and you move on. It’s like a mosaic of all these things. You listen to it a few days later, and you’re like, “Oh, this line sounded cheesy or weird,” but really you have no idea. So I listened to it the other day for the first time and it’s probably because it has personal meaning, not because it’s good or anything, but I definitely listened to the whole record and almost teared. Seeing it with a bird’s eye view, it’s like, “Oh my God. It’s all come together.” Even the album name and the song at the beginning, at the end.
Yeah, I like “Overture.” It feels like a ceremony starting.
It’s a concept you don’t think about, but when you hear it objectively that’s when it all comes together. There were moments where I was saying, “Yeah that’s cool,” but in terms of knowing it was working, probably three days ago.
I want people to be tearfully inspired to better themselves in the world in a positive, light-hearted, not too serious, happy way.
Is that common for you?
Very common. Sometimes I don’t even understand what lyrics mean until 10 years later. I’ll listen and be like, “Oh shit.” It’s like, “That’s what it means and it’s so much cooler than I consciously remembered.” But at the time you know something is good because you know it’s working on two or four levels.
The album doesn’t sound like anything else. It takes your brain in one direction and you don’t know what’s gonna happen next. Have you always been able to do that as a band? Go in all of those different directions seamlessly?
We’ve naturally been able to, but to do it on a record is trickier because there’s the editing process. It’s like movie editing. That’s what really makes or breaks a movie, and there are a billion choices to be made or that could be made. From the beginning of The Voidz to now, there has been a little bit of an arch for me in terms of how I view albums.
And I think there are two ways: I don’t listen to albums, I just listen to different songs. I listen to a jazz song, an African song, a heavy metal song, an old-timey country song. I go all over the place. I wanted albums to sound like mixtapes a little bit. Virtues, specifically, almost felt like a mixtape. Tyranny, I wanted to do that, but Shawn Everett had his own Godspeed You! Black Emperor vision of aggressive dark distortion vibes that follows through the whole thing.
Ironically I’ve gotten into listening to albums from YouTube, because I used to not listen to albums. So I do like the cohesiveness of albums, but I also like the genre-bending thing. And we do naturally have that when we jam: we do a jazz thing, and then play a hip-hop thing, so the carousel within a cohesive, I guess, is the indirect goal, but both are in mind. I don’t know if I answered that?
You did, it’s the carousel and cohesion.
Carousel of cohesion. I should of just said that.
I also wanted to ask about “Square Wave.” It starts off the album right after “Overture” in a really strong way. You talked about not necessarily listening to full albums, but were you very specific about the track order?
Yes, we had different track orders that I thought were good, then I’d listen and there were always issues. It’s kind of hard to know what those issues are. Could be anything between similar or clashing vibes, or too many happy songs, too many dark songs, or too many slow songs. It’s spacing out the more aggressive songs for this one, making it feel new, because some people knew some of the songs. So you don’t want to make it front-heavy with the old songs. This one felt like it did everything and worked and moved powerfully and gave you what you were ready for at each turn.
The album doesn’t insult your ability to follow along. Speaking of people listening to the album or how they’ll hear it–
How will people dance to this? The most undanceable songs of all time.
People interpretive dancing to “Overture.”
Movies used to have these. I had just seen Gone With the Wind for the first time and it starts with an overture. Classical pieces or ballets or whatever the hell. It literally means, “Opening,” get to your seat. I think people are listening to it like a song. It was originally a guitar solo idea, anyway.
It gets you ready for what’s about to happen. How are people are receiving it, specifically fan comments around the AI cover art. You had this hilarious response, “The original art we wanted to use artists wanted to charge $150,000; what is this, 1988?” I wanted to get your thoughts on this in general. This idea that people seem to be really passionate about.
I really stepped into it. I had no idea I had been loving AI art. It just seemed cool, I was enjoying my little hobby and the irony was that it wasn’t even like, “Take that artists.” It wasn’t thought out in any way, shape or form. I had no idea that there was even a resistance to it, because I my feed is probably half real and half AI art. I really love what it’s done to design, because I feel like design was so stagnant. The deeper conversation of the integrity and all that, fine. It’s worthy of a deeper thing that I wasn’t trying to get into. I’m not making a statement. My first instinct is, always prioritize. There are so many basic things we need to be getting together first.
Speaking of AI, I asked ChatGPT what questions to ask Julian Casablancas and it said to ask you, “Why do people make things?” I’m kidding. But the question was, “When people hear your music, how do you want them to feel?”
That’s ironic that AI is asking about feelings. I want people to be tearfully inspired to better themselves in the world in a positive, light-hearted, not too serious, happy way.
