Caught up to the 2nd Hall of Shame. Another fun one!

Maybe it's on me for not noticing for so long, but man, I love it when Brad gets so passionate. One of the silver lining of EZA shrinking in size is that guys like Brad and Don has pretty much amplified their presence to help compensate, and I think Brad is so much better and entertainingly expressing his thoughts. Great pick from him, very fun presentation to watch.

Speaking of Don, I truly thought that he's finally managed to calm his usual antics down a bit, but that cross exam part went off the rails lol. Also shoutout to Huber's "slapdash" presentation, both Damiani and Blood

bringing GT reviews,

and Isla being so based with her pick.

@dipset Honestly I've been mostly an offline boi lol. I did get back to Sport mode recently when they started giving higher credit rewards for the special event, it's real fun. I stuck mostly to the low stakes, more casual races, haven't played too much of the ones with longer laps and actual GR.3 cars.

Basically my PS wrapup went the way I expected, I definitely got addicted to GT7 for weeks, it's a supremely enjoyable game despite the issues it has or had. It's definitely my personal GOTY, might be my actual GOTY too. Also my #5 game is Genshin, glad to say that I've broken out of that rabbit hole lol

I have no Nintendo console so can't do any wrapup obv

Games that show actual gameplay:

• Viewfinder. I was blown away when I saw the twitter threads showcasing this game in its earlier state sometime ago, good to see that the feeling is still there when I watched the trailer at the show.
• SW Jedi Survivor. Game sequels are usually better than their counterparts so I'm down for this already, and the trailer only strengthened that feeling.
• Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2. I feel like the first game is teetering between AA and AAA, but this one seems pretty high budget. The level of chaos on display is always high.

I would have also added FFXVI above but honestly the trailer didn't add much to the hype, I've seen enough of it and I just want to play it already.

Games with non-gameplay trailers:

• Armored Core VI. This trailer gave me goosebumps, the audiovisuals on display is like a mecha fan's wet dream.
• HFW Burning Shores. LA looks hella nice lol
• Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania. Very fun animated trailer, and the logo reveal at the end is masterful.

@dipset it reminds me a lot of Firewatch which I really like. I'm curious if it's more than that but either way I'm probably gonna be excited for it, unless it just goes full on dumb game.

At the risk of spoiling my fantasy critic picks (if I'm brave/dumb enough lol), here's mine. Just to not drive myself crazy, I will only count games that at least has a 2023 release window.

1. FFXVI
2. RE4 Remake
3. Dead Space Remake
4. FFVII Rebirth
5. The Invincible
6. Wanted Dead
7. Demonschool
8. Street Fighter 6
9. A Space for the Unbound
10. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

I love last year's hall of shame because it didn't feel like the allies were just shitting on stuff for no reason (mostly), like they actually had deep grievances with the games they brought and it's very entertaining to see them air it all out in their own ways. It didn't feel salty in an annoying or clickbaity way, it's just them channeling their hate to something fun. I'm very excited for the next one, hoping the full crew shows up!

I'm a few hours in NFS Unbound and I'm pleasantly surprised! Really enjoying it rn.

The drifting mechanic and the nitrous system are real fun to learn. The art style makes me actually care for my character's look, spent a lot of time picking out the right clothes and stuff. I also like the risk of losing money if you perform subpar in the higher stakes races. The soundtrack selection is also pretty great, I'm not the biggest hip hop fan but it works so well with the vibe the game is going for.

I guess the thing that I feel mixed about is the city, there's nothing that makes this location stand out for me. Also the cops are very mid so far, no threat. The story is nothing to write home about but it's very unintrusive, so we all good.

Got a few more hours in the free trial so I'm gonna make the most of it.

Yeah it looked real fun to me. Luigi steals the show for me, Charlie Day seems absolutely perfect as him lol

For me it's Ico for sure. Played it for the first time like 1.5 years ago, it felt so fresh to me. There's a lot of those kind of puzzle platformer games these days but the minimalist way that Ico does it is wonderful. It's in my top 5 fav games of all time and it's also easily my favorite of Fumito Ueda's trilogy.