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Summer’s coming to an end, and Danny ‘I’m f***ing Danny Dyer’ Dyer has returned to filming  EastEnders after a lengthy break. Turns out he’s using IV booster drips for energy though, as the poor bloke is well and truly cream-crackered. Pulling pints at the Queen Vic must be tough, eh?
Elsewhere, things got pretty heated on ITV’s Loose Women earlier in the week, when Kim Woodburn and Coleen Nolan locked horns after the former came on the show to patch things up with her ex-Big Brother housemate and bitter rival. It didn’t work.
Still, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel: Holly and Phil are back on This Morning on Monday.
Streets of Rage 4 is officially happening
For a kid growing up in the early 90s, life was all about getting as many games of Streets of Rage in with your mates on a school night as possible. It was everything your parents hated about video games – pure and utter violent nonsense that no doubt got me into a few playground scraps – but that’s why we loved it.
It also serves as a reminder of just how bloody old I’m getting; I was 10-years-old when Streets of Rage 3 came out on the Mega Drive, meaning it’s taken an eyeball-popping 24 years for Sega to churn out a sequel.
Obviously, resurrecting a much-loved IP like Streets of Rage after all this time isn’t an easy task, but early signs look good. The sidescrolling scrapper is bringing back iconic 90s duo Axel and Blaze, only they’ve been given a gorgeous hand-drawn aesthetic to complement the familiar thug-thumping shenanigans. Hell, even staple punks Y Signal and Garcia are back for another good thrashing – bring it on.
Battlefield V has been delayed by one month
Delays are always a tough bullet to bite, but in this case, DICE’s decision to shove Battlefield V back a month is a smart move. The shooter’s original Oct. 19 release date was slap bang in the middle of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2, which wouldn’t have worked out well for the EA-published behemoth. I mean, Battlefield is a heavy hitter, no two ways about it. Does it have the commercial clout to compete with Activision and Rockstar Games? Probably not. It’s interesting that the delay comes amidst murmurs that pre-orders for the World War II shooter aren’t looking too hot…
Destiny 2’s summer roadmap will keep you busy until summer 2019
Bungie’s loot-’n-shooting sequel hasn’t had an easy ride since its launch last September; although, I’d argue that people have been a tad too harsh. For one, Destiny 2 hasn’t suffered from as many content droughts as the original game, and the levelling system and grinding game is nowhere near as laborious as Destiny 1. Okay, so Bungie messed up a few things: the Crucible’s scaled-back skirmishes weren’t anywhere near as intense as its predecessor’s multiplayer mayhem, and Ghaul was still a pretty one-dimensional bullet sponge villain. Overall though, it was a marked improvement on the first game.
The Forsaken DLC looks set to really kick things up a notch, with Bungie promising a year’s worth of content updates between now and August 2019. Pleasingly, the additions aren’t just limited to a bunch of shiny new Exotics to get your Guardian-sized paws on; quality-of-life improvements are also coming, as well as meaty Raid Lairs and seasonal events that should give you a proper incentive to sink some more hours into Destiny 2’s lavish, alien-shooting sandbox.
To be fair, it’s not like Bungie has much choice. A game like Destiny 2 sinks or swims by its ability to keep players coming back with more compelling content, so it’s just a well the next 12 months are looking solid. I mean, how else are they going to tide people over until Destiny 3?
Onimusha: Warlords remaster announced
An Onimusha revival has been rumoured for the past couple of years, and while a remastered edition of 2001’s Onimusha: Warlords isn’t the full-fledged reboot people had hoped for, it’s a start. Frankly, it’s refreshing to see something other than a ruddy Resident Evil game remastered, as Capcom has been milking that cow for the past two years or so. The Japanese software behemoth said that it was focusing on leveraging its back catalog of titles by giving them a high-definition facelift, so Onimusha was probably the safest bet. It’s a PS2 game, so looks decent enough to spruce up in HD without having to built the whole thing from scratch.
Onimusha was an overlooked gem for sure: a thrilling combination of Samurai-infused combat and gorgeous pre-rendered backdrops that in many ways plays like its zombie-slaying stablemate. Fitting really, as Onimusha was born out of a Resi spinoff set in Japan. Dino Crisis next, eh lads?
Sega wants to know if you want more Yakuza games
Yakuza is top dog right now: a bit like James Corden circa 2010, only Kazuma Kiryu didn’t make a prat of himself by arguing with Sir Patrick Stewart at an awards event. While Yakuza Kiwami 2 marks the end the current crop of freshly-baked titles, it looks like Sega is at least considering bringing some of the back catalog to western players. The most obvious choice are the currently Japanese-only PS4 conversions of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5, but a recent survey also suggests we might get the likes of Yakuza Kenzan and Yakuza Ishin.
I’m a fan of spinoffs as much as the next bloke, but I’d place more emphasis on getting the other mainline games out over here first. After all, this would mean Yakuza 1-6 would be available on a single platform. As Del Boy would say, ‘you know it makes sense.’
Have a cracking weekend, folks.
