Community Post-it Wall

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Xbox's next console, code named Project Scarlett has been confirmed for Holiday 2020. PlayStation's next console is set for next year too but no window has been announced yet... very likely it'll be Holiday 2020 as well. Back to Scarlett. Microsoft has announced it will be powered by a custom designed AMD Ryzen Zen2 processor along with an AMD Navi based GPU. It will feature GDDR6 RAM and a SSD for storage. Apparently they will also use the SSD for virtual RAM.

Microsoft is claiming it will be 4 times as power as the Xbox One X but this is likely do the processor, which will be a massive leap over the the really slow chip in the current Xbox systems. GPU wise I expect more around a 2x to 2.5x improvement. It will continue to have a blu-ray drive and Microsoft has confirmed all existing controllers and accessories will still be compatible. Scarlett will also be compatible with the entire existing Xbox One library.

One thing I found interesting is Xbox didn't call it the most powerful console in the world again. I wonder if they are unsure they will beat PlayStation on power. From the little we know of the next PlayStation, it's looking like both consoles are going to be very very similar internal hardware wise. This might be the closest gen yet.

 

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E3 is officially over, a bit of a down year but was still some decent games shown. Next year should be insane with the next PlayStation and Xbox being revealed. I think the thing that is most disappointing is the lack of actual gameplay... so many trailers were "in-engine" and granted that's better than the CG stuff we got in the past, it's still annoying. I kinda get it, it's hard to make a good trailer on a in progress game that's likely still very broken but these fake trailers don't really tell us anything.

Anyways, it was fun seeing the new games coming this year and get an official confirmation that new consoles are coming next year. For this year I'm still excited for The Outer Worlds, along with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and Dragon Quest 11 S. Pokemon Sword/Shield looks great as well. O an Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. I'm very curious how Witcher 3 Switch will turn out too. I'm also surprised at the number of big games that will be releasing March, April, May 2020. Seems unusually high, maybe they are just trying to avoid the new console confusion in the fall.

Last bit, WSJ is sticking with it's rumor of Nintendo releasing updated Switch models in 2019. They even doubled down and said mass production of these consoles has already started. Very interesting. We'll see if it's ultimately 2019 or not but revised models at some point is almost a guarantee given Nintendo's history.

 

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Over the weekend was the 24 hours of Le Mans. It was a pretty good race, though I'm looking forward to the day the top class is actually a race again... however the other classes were fine. Was really happy to see Keating Motorsports Ford GT win on it's first outing, really hoping it will lead to them bringing the car to IMSA or WEC now that Ford is pulling out. It's a great car and needs to stay on track.

 

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Picked up this open world rpg called Elex, I don't remember hearing about it even when it released a few years ago. The game is a bit rough but I'm very surprised by it. It is very hard in the early game though. Supposedly it will get easier. Will see how it goes but I've pretty much already gotten what I paid back out of it... it goes for very cheap when on sale these days.

 

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Nintendo has some big releases coming up, Super Mario Maker 2 on the 28th. An then Dragon Quest Builders 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Fire Emblem: Three Houses to follow in July. Each month after July has solid releases too, it's great to see the drought over.

 

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Outer Wilds is a very underrated indie game right now. Got it for free 2 years ago with a mixpot for watching Xbox E3 conference, it took until recently to finally release. An surprise! It's actually a really unique and interesting title. It has puzzles and lots of exploration. Light space mechanics... most of the game is reached by travelling to different planets and you manually fly the ship, tho it's pretty simplified. An a few other surprises that I don't wanna spoil.

 

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Dragon Quest Builder 2 demo hits eshop tomorrow... I think around noon but not really sure, some point tomorrow! Dragon Quest Builders demo was very generous so it should be a solid look at the game and it's a pretty small download. Would recommend.

 

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Well turns out Dragon Quest Builders 2 demo isn't quite as generous as Dragon Quest Builders. Demo is still a decent length but it's basically one big tutorial, which I think was a mistake because it takes a good hour or so to get through before your allow to do what you want. After that you can run free but are limited in material types, it also notes nothing done on the island will transfer to the full game... another mistake imo.

So I think the game looks pretty clean graphically. It's not blurry, things are easy to read etc. Performance in handheld mode felt really solid but docked mode felt a bit slow. It had some obvious frame drops but it also has an overarching lack of smoothness to it. Which on it's own isn't terrible but has me concerned how it will play in the late game with massive builds and NPCs running around.

The rest of it though is really cool, everything seems to be designed very well and I had no issues with interface, crafting, map etc. I really like you have a partner, he helps gather materials and fight. Apparently you can even add more people to your party too as the game progresses. A nice change from the lone adventurer that is so common in these games. Performance concerns aside, this seems like a really nice upgrade on Dragon Quest Builders... though maybe get the PS4 version.

 

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Not sure if I've ever mentioned Pluto.tv before but it's a great free internet tv service. It has tons of content and channels, including a surprising amount of anime. Content overall tends to be older or less mainstream but the sheer volume of different stuff and the way it's presented is pretty unique, plus as I mentioned before it's free, with commercials of course.

The service has been around for a while but has really been ramping up in the past year, then a few months ago Viacom purchased the service. Which kinda sucks as they are part of the problem but also bodes well for it's future. The buyout has brought viacom content to the service too. Check it out here:

Pluto TV

Bonus, a similar alternative can be found here:

xumo.tv

 

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I guess continuing the free services theme, tubitv.com. Tubitv is a free, ad supported, on demand tv/movies service. It features tons of episodes and full movies from all different decades. I've found this service to be very stable and the amount of ad breaks very reasonable... at least at the time of this writing. Like the services mentioned in the last post, content tends to be older but the selection they do have is pretty solid. They even have anime. As far as free services go, I found this one to be very polished and easy to use. It feels more like a paid service, which is great. Check it out here:

Watch Free TV & Movies Online | Stream Full Length Videos | Tubi