My Games of 2012, Part 2

Tonight's group of games is where things started to get a little dicey and where the surprises really started.  If there's any section of my list where I imagine the games could be shuffled about and still be representative of my overall opinion, this could probably be it since I like all these games....in a sense, but at the very least, I liked them all -more- than the previous group, if only just a little in the case of a couple of them.  Again, that's all that really matters for this kind of list in the end, but still, I do feel a little wonky with the places some of these have ended up.  Oh well, it's not like I won't make it painfully obvious which of those are the ones.  Still, enough stalling, let's just get to the numbers and get this one knocked out.

15.  Retro City Rampage

I'll admit, when I played Retro City Rampage the first time, I spent hours just enjoying the hell out of it and loving it for what it was, or rather, what it was trying to be.  I told myself, told you folks that it was just too awesome for words, because I simply couldn't find the appropriate ones.  Admittedly in the months since I played it, my opinion has simmered quite a bit, thanks in no small part to the absolute awful final boss/section and the rather tedious and annoying task of mopping up the last collectibles in the game that, in all honesty, are really hard to find.  Not to mention a certain trophy that has all sorts of hidden flags that are -not- what it says on the tin, turning a rather simple matter into something entirely different, much harder to accomplish, which borders on "Why should I even bother?" territory.  Ultimately, that sort of thing just gets in the way of my fun, detours it and unfortunately just takes the rest of the game down with it.

Not that it isn't a really wonderful little game, if only for the nine billion references to gaming and pop culture, classic and modern, that have been packed into it.  It's just that, yes, the fun does eventually run out when there's nothing else to do because, ultimately, the city that Retro City Rampage takes place in is built on references.  Once you've seen them, they become less "Oh wow, that's awesome" and just blend into the scenery, which leaves it to be simply a place that you navigate on the way to your next objective.  Hence, when there's -not- a next objective..there's little reason for you to make one for yourself.  To its credit, it's very much like classic games in that sense, which, I mean, the game was definitely going for a classic game feel.  You can only conquer those worlds once and then do it again and again if you wish, but there's no incentive to remain once you've planted your flag, so to speak.

14.  Ragnarok Odyssey

I admit, when I first saw Ragnarok Odyssey, I wasn't expressly seeing it for what it was, and was instead looking at it like it was something else that I wanted.  What I -want- is another Phantasy Star Portable experience, but Sega has been a little too busy with the doing jack shit in America thing to comply.  At first glance, RO seemed like it would fill that need quite capably - after all, it's about entering zones, taking down mobs and getting loot, what's the difference, right?  Well, unfortunately the difference is there in a way that I can't quantify and while I ended up liking Ragnarok Odyssey for what it was, it just wasn't what I wanted in the end.  It doesn't help that the difficulty turns from an uphill climb to a sheer cliff-face in the latter chapters which is what ultimately put me off the game, but really, there was just a little more to it than that.

Part of RO's charm, and yet part of its short-comings is the way it handles your character and the specific customization of it.  You can buy new outfits, you can change the hair style and this and that after the fact and eventually, you can even change jobs.  You don't -have- to start a new character to find out what a Cleric is like - just switch to the Cleric Job and go do a couple missions, bam, Cleric experience garnered.  If anything, though, that more or less highlights the fact that you -don't- really have that much to say in exactly what your character can be, because your character is flexible enough to be anything decently.  It all boils down to your playstyle in a sense, which is admirable, but again that just sort of negates the replayability and such of the game since if you don't like being a Mage, there's no -reason- to because you will not get better at it.  

It's nothing like other games where you spend hours playing one style because it's what your character needs, then switching to another character so you can see what it's like on the other side of things.  That individuality might seem unimportant, but ultimately it's one of the factors that brought me down on the game.  Of course, that only brought me down after playing into it for eight or so chapters, spending hours on extraneous missions and just straight-up going back to older bosses and murdering the shit out of them only to prove that I could.  Which is to say there's some definite fun to be had with the game - I had it - and it's well worth a look if you're into the type of thing it's offering.  Still, I'm hoping for something more and I'll openly applaud the first damn company that gives me the Phantasy Star Portable experience because I friggin' need it.

13.  Persona 4 Arena

I am not a fighting game person, despite my love for punching dudes in video games.  The allure is that, in most cases, you are exponentially more badass than the dude whom you are punching and that gap in skill allows you to skillfully display that.  Which is fun.  And every now and then, you get that opponent that is -as- badass as you and it's a challenge, but at the same time, it's fun because you're getting to put your badassery to the test.  It's a welcome change in pace every now and then.  Nothing to be repeated over and over, however.  To me, that's what fighting games are - going against an equal with the goal of punching them a whole bunch.  In these occasions, I find my skills lacking more often than not and I don't really find it all that fun to 'train' within the confines of fighting games to then get better at it when I could just pop in Yakuza and suplex a guy across a steel divider and just enjoy that.

Still, I allow myself the occasional dalliance outside of my comfort zone here and there if the draw is right and fresh off my Persona 4 Golden playthrough, I was admittedly looking towards Persona 4 Arena, if only because I am told it is at least somewhat canon and, well, I really dug P4's canon.  Then the stars aligned and the price dropped to $20 the day before I was going to head into GameStop and they just happened to have a copy.  It was providence, pure and simple, so who am I to argue?  Perhaps thankfully, I went in with the same expectations as any fighting game and as such, I wasn't disappointed with my brief dips into it here and there.  It is definitely interesting from all sides, and it is also definitely entertaining, even if it is a fighting game to the core.  Perhaps because it has the lovely Arc System Works people behind it who excel at making wonderful looking fighting games, which this is no slouch at either.

I haven't played P4A a whole lot, but I've played it enough to appreciate it for what it is, I believe and I will certainly be dipping back into it sooner rather than later.  I like it, I honestly do, but I would like it a whole lot more if I knew just what in the blue hell I was doing.  I played through all 67 or however many tutorials there were (which, admittedly were single things like a single tutorial about crouching, a single tutorial about blocking, etc.) and all that information just went in one ear and out the other.  When I am put down in a match with a (computer) enemy (hahaha, noooooo, no online for me, no thanks) I just do things and eventually I win, but it's not skillfully, it's not with mastery of the system, it's just because I hit a lot of buttons that did a lot of stuff.  I hope to figure it out as I play, but I guess if that'll carry me through everyone's story modes, I'll take it.

12.  LittleBigPlanet Karting

Much like fighting games, I just don't do racing games a whole lot, but I did have to make an exception for LittleBigPlanet Karting for the simple fact that it's friggin' LittleBigPlanet Karting.  My opinion of it hasn't changed much since I last talked about it, but that is to say I haven't really played it much since the last time I talked about it.  I've been thinking about it, but I just haven't yet gotten behind the cardboard steering wheel once more, namely because I've been scrambling to put my playtime into other games so that I could judge them as well.  I still say that, for as weird and out-of-sorts as the mash-up of LittleBigPlanet and a Kart Racer is, it's also a perfect fit in a sense because, well, that is the strength of LittleBigPlanet.  It's meant to be anything and everything you could want it to be, which is why the other iterations of the series have been so popular, or at least so striking with a certain group of people.

In the end, however, I think LittleBigPlanet Karting is a good enough idea to be good, but probably not a good enough idea to substantiate an entire game.  I've only been to two different planets in the story, but if previous games are any indicator, there will only be about five or six in total, so I've seen quite a bit already.  If, perhaps, Karting was simply a level choice for a grander, larger LittleBigPlanet game, that would have been the best course of action, though I understand the scope for that is quite large, almost absurdly so.  So what we're left with is a good idea that goes on a little too long, even if it does take every opportunity to give you ideas that it's not just a racing game.  In all reality, it's -not- just a racing game, but it is, of course, -mostly- one, which does not differentiate itself enough.  Still, it's charming and it's fun enough and I should say I'm better at driving games than fighting games, so I'm not quite as hard pressed to find my own enjoyment with them.  Not much, though.

11.  Assassin's Creed 3:  Liberation

You would think that, after just reviewing it recently, I would be sick of talking about AssLib by now.  You would also be right in that.  It hasn't even been a full week since I posted that up and I've even been playing it -still-, trying to mop up the miscellany because the Platinum trophy is behind a wall of tedium, not one of impossibility, so I want to get it and be done with it, that I might return to the world of Persona 4 or some other Vita game, just so I am not playing Assassin's Creed 3:  Liberation anymore.  So, if you will allow me to be so lazy, allow me to take an except from the review to leave you with here:

Assassin's Creed 3:  Liberation is not a perfect game, much like no Assassin's Creed game is a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination.  The upside is that Liberation is just as flawed as the previous titles, not more, which means if you enjoyed them, you will probably have quite a bit of fun with this.  The story itself is fairly short and not terribly involved with the rest of the overarching story, but in many ways, that's probably a good thing all told.  The draw here is pretty simple - more Assassin's Creed, but wherever you could want to play it at, and that's a very good thing since it does work much the same as the previous titles.  If you're looking for something Action-y to throw into your Vita for a while, AssLib is a fine choice that likely won't leave you feeling disappointed.

So there's that.  Nothing but the Top 10 left and already you've seen some games that might've just been heavy hitters for my list, or might've been considered so, given how much I've talked (or haven't talked) about them.  Still, if you've been keeping up with Kupowered, you'll probably be able to figure out which games are still yet to be revealed, and I'm sure you can understand that it was goddamn hard to actually rank the games that are remaining.  So yes, it's all uphill from here and it's going to be rough going to actually explain my reasoning for why some of the games are where they are.  That is a problem for another night, however, likely tomorrow night.  For tonight, I just have some music and some writing (elsewhere) on my mind.

LittleBigThings: Of Karting and Sackthings

I don't think I've ever really understood Kart racers from any vantage point.  While I've certainly played some and I did enjoy a few whilst playing them, it was all brief, lasting only as long as the controller was in my hand if that.  So when the intent expressed with LittleBigPlanet Karting was "Let's give the guys who made ModNation Racers (that was considered 'alright' at best) a chance to make another Kart Racer, just with LittleBigPlanet this time!" I experienced something of a tepid excitement - certainly not the extent I would have had for something else, anything else, involving the LittleBigPlanet franchise.  Still, it had to be something I could embrace, I could come to love and enjoy, right?  It says LittleBigPlanet after all, right there on the tin.  I love LittleBigPlanet, so I should love this!

I'm....not quite sure.

LittleBigPlanet Karting certainly is a LittleBigPlanet game in more than just name, supposing that being a platformer is not intrinsically what LittleBigPlanet is.  With all the varied types of levels and, indeed games that have been made with LittleBigPlanet in its various releases that stretch beyond platforming, LittleBigPlanet has grown itself into something that just is itself, I suppose.  While Super Mario is certainly a loftier series, one can draw a comparison - games which Mario are in are, by extension, Mario games because of the inclusion, because the inclusion is in itself more than just Mario.  By that measure, LittleBigPlanet games are games in which you are given a Sackboy to control, a popit to interact with, a mode with which you can build to your hearts content and all the charm and Stephen Fry tutorials you could ever want.  LittleBigPlanet Karting has all that, in spades even, and in fact more than that, sticking to the world-based, level-based formula that has worked with every game that's released thus far, further cementing it as a LittleBigPlanet game and thus easing you into the change.  Or perhaps trying to have you accept that it's not so much a change as it is another possibility.

Still, under the charm, under the Sackboys and Sackgirls, under the Create Mode and under the familiarity, the game is still a Kart Racer and not much else.  It does a good job of presenting various types of -things- to do within the setting of a Kart, however, which gives me hope for the levels or tracks or games or whatever they're supposed to be called that players have made between the release and now.  Battle Mode seems like a ripe field to use for Create, given that you get to simply establish an area and have your Sackfolk faff around in it however you like, as I imagine we're not -all- interested in actually making Racetracks.  Depending on the 'restrictions' in place for making a level of a Battle Mode type, as it were, it could be incredibly rich and diverse and I look forward to seeing if anyone has managed to tap into that sort of thing when I eventually get to the created levels/tracks/games/whatever.  Story first, however, as is the case with any LittleBigPlanet game.

Though there is another mode that certainly tugs a little more at the creative urges than Battle Mode, if only in a "Hrm, this isn't set up for it properly, but wouldn't that be neat" type of way.  I encountered a Gran Prix race towards the end of the first world which is another beast entirely.  Eschewing the competitiveness of other players and even the allure of third-person view, Grand Prix mode is a first person race unlike anything else in LittleBigPlanet Karting.  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) you do not see your kart at all, yet you are definitely in First-Person mode and in the race I was in, it was a simple enough affair, if that it had a restriction to it that forced pit stops to refuel (which is unseen in the rest of the game).  Regardless, a mode, any mode that allows First-Person perspective is absolutely blessed for opportunity and, provided the boundaries to making a Grand Prix level are a little lax, one could find that it might be possible to do some absolutely wondrous things that couldn't, in fact, be in place in any other LittleBigPlanet game.

The problem is that, if you've noticed, I've simply talked about what the game -can- be, possibly, instead of what it is beyond saying "well, it's a Kart racer".  It is a fun game, really, and I don't have much issue with it, but racing games as a whole are a hard sell to me and even with a LittleBigPlanet coat of paint, I'm finding the game a little hard to be truly excited for.  That can change, of course, as I'm only in the second world of the game and already I've found plenty of neat things to hold my interest.  Already I'm looking to the next Story-based Battle Mode track because I had a lot of fun with the first, and I still wonder if there's anything that the game has yet to really show off, because I certainly wouldn't be surprised if it did.  If nothing else, I am holding my arms out, waiting for the tender embrace of exuberance, and even if I'm left by the wayside by it, at least I considered it an option.

Bleh Post - Some News and Whinging

You might have noticed, but for the past few weeks, I've just been in a constant state of 'bleh' and I'm not quite sure why.  Well....I could produce some very sound theories, of which include Summer troubles, allergies (or possibly being sick on-and-off) and all sorts of other stuff that I'm not getting into, but that's not really the point.  The point is that it's kind of been affecting my writing, I believe, in that I find it a bit harder and harder each night to come to the table, as it were, and put down something that I'm happy with.  When posts normally would take me a few hours, they've taken in excess of five on a few occasions this week, and with such prolonged writing times due to not being able to focus, I'm sure it's shown a little.  Knowing that I'd probably not be able to get out of this slump without acknowledging it, I'm going to go ahead and do that so it's not something weighing on the back of my mind with the hopes that it'll let me move on.  So yes, apologies if the quality seems to have suffered (when I actually get a chance to write instead of feeling miserable or storms making it impossible to do so) and with any luck, just coming out and throwing that out there will help me get out of it.

In a further effort to raise my moods, I'm pointing out what is basically a superfluous news point about LittleBigPlanet Vita to reaffirm to myself that the game is a thing and will be coming out at the end of next month and I just cannot wait.  If messing around with the Sound Shapes editor has taught me anything, it's that I can be a real perfectionist when I have, essentially, all the time and ability to be, as I do with a handheld, so hopefully I'll be able to effectively branch out beyond just writing a thing every night in terms of content creation on a broad scale.  Not that it isn't great to be able to do this, but I sometimes feel myself withing I could do something a little more tangible - something like a Let's Play which is just beyond my means.  Making a -thing- and showing the inner workings of it (As I have attempted to do with my game that is still being worked on, I swear) is that next step of things to bring in under the umbrella as it were, and I can imagine getting further and further along with that when it comes around.

Now, that out of the way, the piece of news here is that LittleBigPlanet Costumes are going to be cross-compatible, even moreso than simply LittleBigPlanet 1 costumes working in LittleBigPlanet 2.  You see, not only will you be able to use most of the costumes from LBP2 in both LittleBigPlanet Vita and LittleBigPlanet Karting as a way to stay comfortable in the game, or just make your style choices 'known' if you become 'big' in the community or such.  The costumes that won't make the cut, it seems, are the Assassin's Creed costumes (Ezio from AssRev and Ass2) and the April Fool's Costumes, but the only thing mentioned is that they will not make it to Karting with no mention of Vita.  The April Fool's Costume, I can understand as it has a specific animation attached to it that simply won't work in a Kart, but I'm not quite sure about the Assassin's Creed costumes.  Maybe the wristblades get in the way of the wheel or something of the sort.  Again, I can't tell if not making it to Karting means it won't make it to LBPV either, but I suppose we shall see.

The costume migration won't be immediate, of course, as there are a -lot- of costumes at this point, so they'll have to be rolled out gradually after they've been remade and such.  Something else that is a bit up in the air is whether it's simply DLC costumes, or if we can expect all the costumes, ala LBP1 -> LBP2 that we've gathered to show up.  (As in, costumes you simply gain by completing the main game)  Perhaps with a little save connecting or the like, we might see it, or if that sort of thing is flagged server-side, then it is possible, but I really have no idea.  I will be slightly sad if I don't get to use some of the vanilla costumes from LBP1 and 2, but between the Sony Licensed Costumes I have (Metal Gear Solid, God of War, etc.) and the others that will be in the game proper, I won't worry too much.  I'm sure I can find -something- that I like to have my Sackboy run around in.  Regardless, it's good to see that the things that people have actually -bought- for one game continue to make it across to the newer games in the series; something that other franchises should really take heed of.

Speaking of Sound Shapes' editor (as I did a couple paragraphs back), it shouldn't surprise you to know that I have been working rather extensively with it, tweaking and perfecting little bits here and there of a level that I am working on.  When it gets to a state that I'm pretty happy with, both in look and sound, I'll be taking some pictures, publishing it, and writing up a little post about the whole of it.  My experience making it, stuff I figured out, possibly showing you the 'preferred' method of getting through it and the like.  Not that it will be something amazing or even close to it, but it will be something that I definitely worked on and in no small form - I have been wracking my brain for hours trying to figure out what comes next in the musical part of the game, and figuring out how to make it mesh with the level design I have.  It's....a balance, to say the least, and I think that will be a little more clear once I can shed a little more light on it.  With that said, though, time to get back in it; borders that you can stick to aren't going to make themselves, after all.

Finally, LittleBigPlanet Karting Information

I was made aware of the above trailer for LittleBigPlanet Karting by Chance as per usual, and after throwing out some of my two cents about it in the comments there, I figured that it would be best if I went full-bore here, since I am genuinely interested in the game.  Not only as someone who intends to buy the game, but as someone who is just interested with how it came to be, all things considered with it.  You know me, you know I am a whore for all things LittleBigPlanet, so to say that I'm going to get the game is a foregone conclusion -even if- I play it and am not a fan of the controls.  That's the pull LBP has on me, so I would suggest that the new branding does have a little power, but I'm clearly not the indicator of the majority.  Still with an established first-party character behind it, it'll likely get a little more attention.

On concept alone, I am sold, just like I was sold on concept alone with Modnation Racers.  Then I played it which, let's face it, there was something wrong there, which is kind of why Modnation Racers didn't take off like everyone hoped.  The fact that the very same developer that created Modnation Racers, United Front Games (who -should- be completely busy with Sleeping Dogs yet, unless it's pretty much way done), is working in LittleBigPlanet Karting makes me a little suspect, but like I said, I would hope that with an established first party character behind it, other studios will offer their own brand of help to ensure quality.  At the very least, I should hope that Media Molecule gets quite a bit of say in the development of the game, though in all honesty, after watching the trailer I believe they have.  Because there was certainly some of that LittleBigPlanet charm in it.

As I mentioned in the comment to Chance, everything in that trailer was more or less better than anything I've ever seen out of Modnation Racers, and it's not just because of the LBP of it; it genuinely looks like a tighter, more realized game.  The interesting thing about it is that it literally looks like a LittleBigPlanet game that involves Kart Racing, rather than a Kart Racer built around LittleBigPlanet.  What I mean by that is the way all the additions to LBP2 have been worked in seem rather natural and closer to that game, just realized in a different way because of the different genre.  The use of the grabinator to pick up obstacles and the grappling hook to clear a jump with style being the notable examples here.  That's why I suspect that MM have had their hands in the creation and why I have more faith in it than I should, by all rights I imagine.

The other big thing, especially big in this case, would be the inclusion of a battle mode which is always fun.  My exposure to the genre is fairly limited, but I, as most people had a copy of Mario Kart 64 as well, and the battle mode in that added quite a bit to the game when we were far too tired of -actually- racing and/or trying to figure out all the secrets each map held.  Not only will that experience be there but, hopefully, the ability to -create- maps exclusively for Battle Mode, which could offer quite a lot of enjoyment just by those merits.  In fact, the trailer seemed to show off three different types of levels you could play on; Normal, Sidescrolling, and Battle.  In my LBP experience, if you can play it, you can make it, so I'm banking on quite the level of depth to be evident in the game.  At least, I can hope for it!

I really sort of struggled with the words for this one, and I'm not quite sure if it's because I really don't know just what to feel about it yet, or because of stuff that's entirely unrelated.  Really, I am excited about LittleBigPlanet Karting on pure Brand Momentum and hope alone, but the trailer did seem to at least validate some of that blind optimism.  Hopefully when we get a little closer, we'll find out even more that will either validate me or shake my faith a bit, but I doubt anything could really stay my hand or my wallet with this one.  Unless I am completely out of money by the time it comes out because goddamnit 2012.  Stop getting all of the games!  Seriously!

LittleBigThings: Start Your Engines!

The above image, showing off Racing, one of the new styles of games you could make in LittleBigPlanet 2, might have been fore-telling something yet to come as LittleBigPlanet Karting is officially a thing, though details beyond that are scarce.  Literally, that's about all we know about it, as in we're not even sure on a developer just yet, but we're promised details of these things "soon", whenever that is.  This all follows some rumors that started towards the start of the week stating that LittleBigPlanet Karting was a thing and might even have some sort of Move integration, going so far as to having a Move Wheel peripheral mimicking that of the Wii Wheel used for Mario Kart.  I honestly don't like the idea of that, nor do I really have an idea of just how that would work (the Move Wand has a more organic, thus harder to mold, shape and the whole ball thing too), but I honestly wouldn't be surprised by it at this point.

You might be wondering, just as everybody else, "Why LBP?  Modnation Racers already exists!"  In fact, Chance wondered this exact thing and it is a really, really valid wonder to have.  I myself had it at first, but I had a little think about it, and I've got at least an idea of what could be the reason behind it all.  Just bear with me here for a moment.  The original Modnation Racers was made for PS3 as we all know, by a little studio called United Front Games who, as you might also know, has been a little busy lately.  Modnation Racers was initially something that a lot of people were looking forward to...until they got to play the Beta.  Gripes about controls instantly came out and even with some tweaking, the general opinion of the internet was a little unfavorable.  I'm sure it didn't set the sales charts on fire, despite all you could really do with it unfortunately, and the end result is that I don't think it's been seen as a 'franchise to look out for', like some of the other things the PS3 has that have started on the PS3 itself.

Then you have the PSP version that did even worse, mostly by virtue of it being a PSP game, which certainly didn't help the brand along at all.  That version and the up-coming Modnation Racers:  Road Trip for the Vita were done by SCE San Diego rather than United Front Games, so it just sort of reeks of "We already made this, might as well try and get it to sell." despite never really getting a lot of chatter.  Being that it's been a while since Modnation Racers came out, it's probably about time for a proper sequel to it, but the originators probably aren't too fussed at doing one and a sequel is likely a bit too much work for SCE San Diego who aren't really known for doing a whole lot aside from the criminally underrated Mark of Kri.  So if you can't do a sequel of a not-so-hot game, but still want to have another new racing game that has a broad appeal, what do you do?

Take the concept that worked (The Race, Create, Share philosophy that UFG put out there to mirror LBP's own Play, Create, Share), add it to a franchise that worked (LittleBigPlanet) and hope for success.  Everyone sort of looked at Modnation Racers as the "LittleBigPlanet" of kart-racing anyways, so why not make it official, yeah?  Sackboy already has a fairly broad appeal, as far as audiences go which is almost money in the bank right off, and the natural linking with making, tinkering with your own courses, racer and kart only makes it seem like more of a perfect fit.  Really, if it weren't for Road Trip coming out, Modnation Racers would probably be out of the general mindset already, so LittleBigPlanet Karting would be a little easier to accept.  LBP Karting even has Modnation Racers as an example case to look at; take the good, leave the bad.  As it stands, it just seems like the next step up if you sort of take apart all the ideas and look at them separately.

We'll see how it works out when the eventual reveal comes out, likely sooner rather than later.  I expect to see some footage of it by E3 and hopefully whoever's developing it (I doubt it's going to be Media Molecule, but we'll see) will be able to work something out with MM for some type of integration.  Figuring on the racers themselves being Sackboys and girls that you can customize, I'd hope we would be able to import our favorites from LBP 1 and 2 in to design karts around, rather than having to start from scratch - especially if they're planning on selling costumes for other Sony Franchises (as they did with Modnation and LBP both) to prevent having to double-dip for a Cole Sackboy racer.  (Which yes, Cole can't drive, blah blah, let me dream, okay?)  Here's hoping for at least a developer reveal in the coming week or so, since I'm pretty interested at face value.