Does 808s and Heartbreak need a sequel?

Credit: Glass Eyes on KanyeToThe.com

I personally think My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the most coherent, solid, and overall best album released by Kanye West. However, his release previous to MBDTF, titled 808s and Heartbreak, is the most unique of all his releases. It has no rapping from Kanye on it- only from Jeezy and Lil Dwayne. It has lots of autotune and smooth synthetic instrumentals. There are relatively few samples on the album, only 4 songs include samples as opposed to 10 out of MDBTF's 11 songs having samples. (All of the Lights is the exception.) There are no swear words on 808s. It is in no way similar to any of his other albums.

808s is also a very good album. From Welcome to Heartbreak's welcoming beat and great melody, to Coldest Winter's great setup, this album is really fun. Love Lockdown makes great use of autotune and vocal effects mixed with a down-to-earth piano riff. Not to mention Heartless, which is perfect in every way.


And last but not least, 808s is a short album. It only clocks in at 52 minutes. While this is a lot compared to Yeezus's 40 minutes and Ye (2018)'s 24 minutes, it's nothing compared to The Life of Pablo's 66 minutes or The College Dropout's 76 minutes. I'm sure I wouldn't be mad if the album were longer.

But does the world really need another 808s and Heartbreak?

Like I said earlier, all of Kanye's releases are different from each other. Ye and KIDS SEE GHOSTS may have been released just a week apart, but GHOSTS has a much more enthusiastic, happy vibe than Ye does, and it shows in the album art. College Dropout has a much more classic sound, Late Registration has a more jazzy sound, Graduation is an album of happy tunes and celebration, MBDTF is very heavy in its instrumentals, Yeezus is futuristic and scary, and Pablo is off the wall insanity that blends together nicely. 808s represents sadness, and it shows in its slower melodies and humble production.

TLDR, wouldn't another 808s release go against what Kanye does and what Kanye stands for?

808s was released at a very low point in Kanye's life. His fiancee broke up with him and his mother had just died. This depression fueled a lot of the content on 808s, like in the song Bad News for example.


Kanye isn't out of his troubles yet, but he's doing better now than he was before. He realizes that he has a family that loves him, and he knows they'll be with him through anything, even when he makes mistakes that could ruin them.



Without the energy surrounding 808s, it wouldn't be as good as it is. The emotions Kanye held back in 08 are very different from the emotions he holds now. An 808s sequel would be a very strange product, and I can't say I'd like it. I think it would be best to just leave 808s and Heartbreak's legacy alone.

TL;DR- 808's and Heartbreak does not need a sequel.

E3 Wishes 2018 - Recap

So EA's conference already aired, but I didn't watch it. I'll just pretend it didn't happen. What I really wanted from them were a new Simpsons console game, and ports of Battlefield V and PVZ Garden Warfare to the Switch. None of that happened, from what I've heard. I don't know. I haven't seen it yet.

Next up we have Microsoft's conference, which is later today as of the time I'm posting this. What I really want from them is some more OG Xbox compatibility with the Xbox One and a new game from Rare. Oh, and Halo 6.

After that, Bethesda has a conference. I want more info on Fallout 6, and I really want Elder Scrolls III on the Vita.

Square Enix owns Tomb Raider, so I want Shadow of the Tomb Raider on Switch. Oh, and a new Gex game, since they own Eidos and Crystal Dynamics.

From Ubisoft I want more Rayman stuff, a new Prince of Persia, and some more info on Starlink. I can't wait to play that game.

Sony needs to give us more Vita titles.

From Nintendo, I want Wii U Pro Controller support on the Switch, and I want Solid Snake to be in Smash 5. A physical Fast RMX or a new F-Zero wouldn't hurt.

With Sega and Atlus, I want a new Crazy Taxi, Saturn games on Switch (including Shin Megami Tensei), and a localization of Phantasy Star Online 2.

From Activision, I want Call of Duty WWII on Switch.

And finally, I want Capcom to stop putting only half the game on the cartridge for Switch games. I would really like a port of the first 4 Resident Evil games (including Code Veronica as a regular title).

I won't be around for the rest of E3, so I'll be able to look back on this when I come home and see what happened and what didn't. Spoilers for the rest of these E3 2018 posts, but I don't expect any of this to happen.

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Capcom

Capcom is a strange company. They can do so much good, but they can shoot themselves in the foot incredibly easily. We've seen this 3 times this year with the Switch releases of Resident Evil Revelations II, The Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, and the Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2. All 3 of these titles require additional downloads. It's slightly understandable with Revelations II, since it's a modern game with lots of data. However, the 2 Mega Man Legacy Titles have no excuse. Those games are not big enough to fill up a whole cartridge with data, so we should not need a download code.

But I really like Capcom. They have Mega Man, Resident Evil, and Monster Hunter. So here's what I want for E3 from them.

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Activision

I'll be entirely honest with you; I don't want much from Activision this year. Crash is already coming to Switch, I don't care about Destiny, I don't care about Skylanders, and I don't care about THPS games after 2.

I said yesterday in my Nintendo wishes post that I wanted CoDBlOpsIIII on Switch. I don't think I do. BlOps has a much higher focus on multiplayer, and from what I've heard CoDBlOpsIIII doesn't have a campaign. Supposedly it's been replaced with a battle royale mode. Thanks Activision. Instead, I'd much rather have a port of World at War II. It has a campaign and multiplayer, and I wouldn't use the battle royale mode in CoDBlOpsIIII. Besides, I find the WWII aesthetic much more than the future Cold War motif. Since it's coming out later, they can probably fit the game on a 32gb cartridge and not have a mandatory download like the Xbox One version was announced to have last year.

I don't think that's going to happen. I think Activision will have playable demos of Crash for the Xbox One if not the Switch, and they'll have a demonstration of CoDBlOpsIIII at one of the conferences. I'm betting on it being Microsoft's conference. They might announce a new Skylanders game, but I'm not counting on it. I'm still hyped for Crash, so I'm excited to see what happens with it.

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Sega + Atlus

Well last year, most of the things in my "realistic" tier of wishes from Sega was answered. We got playable demos of Sonic Mania and Forces, a new All Stars Racing game was announced (albeit with only Sonic characters this time), and PSO2 is on the Switch. So now I have new things to beg for.

NEW CRAZY TAXI - I love Crazy Taxi. It's super fun. I would really love a new one for current platforms. I already made a potential soundtrack for it in Spotify. I would like if all the Crazy Taxi 3 maps and 2 new maps were included in it, but as long as it's Crazy Taxi and it has at least 1 good map and solid music, I don't mind.

PSO 2 LOCALIZED - Phantasy Star Online 2 looks like it would really fun. I don't have a Raspberry Pi, so I can't play PSO online on the Dreamcast. But the Switch has WiFi. I'd much prefer to play online. Thing is, I can't read Japanese so playing it in its current state is near impossible. I would love it if it came to the West. I would prefer an actual port over PSO2 Cloud, but I'll take what I can get. Also, put it on Xbox One. They have about 38 million users, so that's a lot of potential sales of PSO 2.

SATURN GAMES ON SWITCH - The Saturn is easily Sega's most collectible console. It has almost 1400 titles, and a lot of them are uncommon and expensive. Saturn consoles are also the most valuable of all Sega consoles. Genesises are about 30 bucks, Dreamcasts are around 50, Master Systems are upwards of 85, and Saturns are over 100 dollars. Long story short, Saturn collecting is expensive and I want Sega to just rerelease things on the Switch, sort of like Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

And since Sega owns Atlus, they could put Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner for the Saturn on the Switch. I've never played Shin Megami Tensei before, but I've always wanted to. Besides, I have to mention Atlus somewhere in this post. We'll throw in a Persona 4 Golden port for good measure.

Last year, I said that I wanted a new Sega console. Now I don't. If Sega had a new console, all their cool games would be exclusive to their platform, and I couldn't play them on Switch. We also can't confirm that a new Sega console would have good third party, so it would only be good for playing Sega games. No thanks.

So what I expect from Sega and Atlus this E3 is not a lot. Sega is going to be showing off All Stars Racing 3 and Valkyria Chronicles 4. I'm hyped for both of those, so this is a good show so far. I feel like Sega Ages is having some titles announced, plus an announcement for Sega Ages for PS4 and Xbox One. I just feel like that's gonna happen. Atlus is probably going to talk about Catherine and Shin Megami Tensei 5. That's all I think will happen. It sounds like a good showing this year. See you later for when I talk about Activision's set!

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Nintendo

So Nintendo has a 45 minute long Direct this year. We got a 34 minute Direct in March with Okami, Crash Bandicoot, Undertale, Dark Souls, South Park, Sploon 2 DLC, Mario Tennis, and Smash 5. Imagine what we could get in a 45-minute E3 direct, even if 10 minutes or so are dedicated only to Smash 5.

First off, I hope we'll get something from Activison. Crash and Skylanders are the only Activision games on the Switch, and I think CoDBlOpsIIII will be on Switch. I would really appreciate if CoDBlOpsIIII would be cross-platform with Xbox One and PC. I gave up hope for crossplay with PS4 last year.

I didn't make this picture. I stole it off the internet.

I might have said this in my Square Enix post, but I have a feeling that Square is going to announce a new Switch game because they have a new division devoted entirely to the Switch. What I want them to announce is Shadow of the Tomb Raider for Switch. Maybe it's in the Direct, maybe not.

You know what I want announced during the Direct? I want Nintendo to announce that the Wii U Pro Controller is compatible with the Switch. The only things the Switch Pro Controller can do that the Wii U Pro Controller can't are reading amiibos and motion controls, which aren't even used in a majority of games. The Wii U Pro Controller is cheaper than the Switch Pro Controller, better than the Joy Cons, and more compatible with the GameCube controller. The GameCube controller isn't great for some games that use the ZL or - buttons, or games that map the jump button to anything other than A. It works fantastic for Mario Kart and Minecraft, though.

This controller feels really great. The GameCube and Saturn controllers are the only controllers better.

I want Nintendo to announce a new F-Zero game. Or they could announce that Fast RMX is getting a physical release. I would be fine with both. Fast Neo got a physical release in Europe, but I can't run it, so I'm not getting any Fast Racing games.

Amazon UK has low-res images.

And finally, I hope Snake, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Bayonetta, Ryu, Cloud, Bayonetta, Pichu, and the Ice Climbers are back for Smash 5. I think all the first-party characters from Smash 4 will return, but the 3rd-party characters and cut characters are not as likely.

Ubisoft will have a Switch game to announce. I guarantee it. Ubisoft is one of Nintendo's biggest 3rd-party allies, if ZombiU and Watch Dogs and Mario Rabbids are anything to go by. In March, they announced South Park for Switch. At E3 last year, they announced Steep and Mario Rabbids. I think it's safe to say that Ubisoft will have a big title to announce for the Switch during the Direct. I can't say that it will be an exclusive, but I would be shocked if it wasn't.

Nintendo is going to talk about Smash. I don't think Solid Snake will be back. Sonic will. Mega Man will. Bayonetta will. The rest might be back as DLC, but I'm not counting on it.

There will be some crazy announcement that nobody was expecting. Eternal Darkness? Probably not. Timesplitters? Probably not. Sonic Unleashed? I would love that, but probably not. But I'm not expecting them to announce it, so there is even more of a chance that we'll see it.

We might see more of Pokemon Pikachu/Eevee. I hope we do. That game sounds like fun, considering I really enjoyed LeafGreen.

So this whole time I've been going in order of the conferences. But Nintendo is the last conferences, and I still have companies like Sega and Activision to talk about. So what I'll do from now on is what I did last year- just pick the companies in a random order. See you later when I make a post about whatever company I decide to talk about.

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Sony

I'll be honest, I almost fell asleep watching Sony's E3 show last year. It had some cool games, but it really didn't have anything to pull me in or even keep my attention for great periods of time. There didn't seem to be a big variety of different genres. Everything was an open-world game with realistic graphics and good cinematics. Hopefully it's different this year.

Last year, Microsoft surprised people at E3. It wasn't with Minecraft, and it wasn't with the car, and I don't mean with OG Xbox compatibility. I'm talking about Super Lucky's Tale. Microsoft has made more mature games for years now. The last kid-friendly game Microsoft not counting Kinect or karaoke games is possibly Viva Pinata Trouble In Paradise back in 2008. And now they had a 3D platformer coming out. Sony should have a new 3D platformer coming out. They've made mostly mature games over at Sony for a while now as well. We have God of War and Detroit and Uncharted, but we haven't gotten a really good kid-friendly game for a while. When did the last Ratchet and Clank come out?

Sony needs to give a 2 hour presentation of that new Tetris game by the Rez guys. I love Tetris.

Extra Rez content was released for the Dreamcast in 2007 to promote the 360 port coming later that year. Crazy.

— Josh (@Icystorm9) June 4, 2018

Sony needs to announce new Vita games. That is the law. They broke the law last year. The Vita is awesome. At least acknowledge that the Vita exists.

A gorgeous blue PS Vita

I think Sony could easily make PS1 discs work on the PS4. The PS3 can do it. The PS2 can do it. The Dreamcast can do it with a boot disc. I think you can mod your Wii to do it. Why they haven't at this point is beyond me, other than the fact that Sony wants you to rebuy all their PS1 games digitally. Joke's on you, Shawn. I might have bought your console if you would let me run my PS1 and PS2 games.

I'll get to the point now. Sony, make PS1 games and PS2 games compatible with PS4. Or, at the very least, the PS4 Pro.

Finally, the PS4 and Vita need a Twisted Metal game. Twisted Metal only had 2 games last-gen, one of which was on the PSP. There hasn't been a Twisted Metal game this generation. I would love to play a Twisted Metal game for the Vita.

I expect Sony to have a trailer of some sort for their limited Days of Play console and then a bunch of trailers for new games that aren't out for a long time. They'll probably have some PS VR games to show off. I expect more of Spiderman, since the release is coming closer and they've shown it at E3 for a while now. I don't expect Sony to even mention the Vita, since they've effectively disowned the thing; it's a shame. Naughty Dog will have at least one game to show off. Capcom will have a game to show off. Hideo Kojima might show off his weird new game, but I can't say for sure.

Nintendo has a 45 minute show this year. Oh boy.

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Ubisoft

Ubisoft had a great E3 conference last year. It had Bebe Rexha in it. They finally announced a sequel to Beyond Good and Evil on the Xbox, and Bebe Rexha was there. Shigeru Miyamoto helped announce Mario Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Not to mention, Bebe Rexha was there. So how do they follow it up this year?

Announce

a

new

Rayman

game.

Rayman Legends came out 4 or 5 years ago already. I would love to have another 2D Rayman game like it available. Rayman is an awesome franchise that I really like. I wouldn't mind if it included Rayman Legends content as unlockable content or DLC either.

Just Dance 2019 is pretty much a given. But what's not a given is whether or not it will be on Wii U, 360, or PS3. I have no doubt it will be on the Wii, since that version always sells well, but I hope it's on Wii U, 360, and PS3 just for the legacy of it all. Oh, and feel free to include some songs from Kesha's Rainbow in there. That's my favorite album of 2017. Green Light by Lorde should also be in there. Hopefully there's enough good songs in there to make me feel like it's better than JD18. Just dance 3, 2014, and 2017 are currently the best ones. Hopefully I can add 2019 to the list.

The guys behind Let's Sing 2018 got lazy and released it for Wii and Switch, but not Wii U. That's why I'm not sure about Just Dance 2019 for the Wii U.

You know a really good franchise the Ubisoft now owns that sold really well in the past, but they haven't done anything with recently?

Uhh, yeah, that might be it. Thanks, wallpaper guys. I've heard some say that Prince of Persia evolved into the Assassins Creed series, but I think the Prince of Persia series just has a much more interesting aesthetic to it. Assassins Creed has Roger Craig Smith, but it doesn't matter if the environments aren't that interesting. The only interesting-looking AC games I've seen are Black Flag and Origins, and I don't think we'll be getting those again soon. So give us more Prince of Persia. Did you guys know that Prince of Persia had a movie and LEGO sets? isn't that neat?

In 3rd Grade I said that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was a Disney movie and everyone thought I was wrong. I'm still not happy about this.

— Josh (@Icystorm9) March 11, 2018

If that were all Ubisoft announced this year, I would be more than satisfied. Rayman, Prince of Persia, and a good Just Dance game are all I really need from them. But there is some more stuff I'd like to mention.

Starlink is a game I haven't seen or heard anything about since last E3. Where has it been? I hope it returns this year. I was super hyped and it looked really interesting. I really, really want to play it, and it's supposed to be out in the fall of this year, so we should see more of it this year.

I've heard in the past that Watch Dogs and Assassins Creed were going to both be on a biennial cycle- Assassins Creed one year, Watch Dogs the next. It's clear at this point that's not happening, but I really wish it was. It seems like the perfect fit. I have Watch Dogs 1 on Wii U and it has its fun moments. I've heard the second one is a lot better. I have high hopes for a third one, if they ever decide to make it.

I expect Ubisoft to show off Just Dance. They did last year. Bebe Rexha was there. This year I think they'll get someone like Dua Lipa, although I wouldn't count Bebe Rexha out with the popularity of Meant to Be this past year. I also expect to see some Beyond Good and Evil 2 footage, including gameplay. I think they'll show off some more Starlink, since the last we've heard of it was at last E3. I really thought that game was interesting and I want to see more. We'll probably get a trailer for the new Assassins Creed game. It will be a great show, no doubt. It can't say it will be better than Nintendo's or Sony's, but I have high hopes. Next I'll discuss Sony's show. Goodbye!

E3 Wishes and Predictions 2018 - Square Enix

I was surprised to read that Square is having a conference this year. I haven't paid much attention to them recently; they just don't seem to make the content that appeals to me, for the most part. But there is a conference, and they are a company, so we'll see what they have.

First of all, I hope that Shadow of the Tomb Raider is announced for Switch. Square Enix just announced that they have a whole new division just for Switch game development. Tomb Raider probably isn't what they're working on, but I really hope it is. I would love to have that game on Switch, assuming it runs.

I hope they announce that Final Fantasy XV is coming to Switch. LambHoot said it was the one of the best games of last year, and it would be interesting to see how it would be converted. That would be cool. I might even buy it.

Square Enix owns Eidos, and Eidos owns Crystal Dynamics. And do you know who Crystal Dynamics owns?

Crystal Dynamics owns Gex. Gex is awesome. Wouldn't it be super rad if Gex got a new 3D platformer? I would think that would be great. Or Square could put the original trilogy on a disc or on a cart for 30 bucks, add in like a set of stickers, and you've got a definite sale from me. I love Gex.

But I don't expect Square to announce that Gex is getting a new game. I expect them to talk about Octopath Traveller for a bit, and then they'll talk about Tomb Raider and Dragon Quest, and they'll announce a JRPG that I likely won't play. Not that any of them are bad, but I would really like Gex 4.

But the next conference is Ubisoft. I love Ubisoft. They're great. But I'll talk about that later. Goodbye!

E3 Wishes and Expectations 2018 - Bethesda Softworks

Eyyy, Bethesda. They're a cool company. They've worked hard in the past year to put all the coolest games on Switch and PSVR. No Vita, but we'll forgive them. What are they going to show at E3 this year?

Well, I know they'll be showing off Fallout 6 (Fallout 76 is a dumb name), but what are they going to show off? I'm thinking they'll show off a short trailer, but not gameplay footage. If my guesstimate is correct that this game is coming out in spring, then we'll get some gameplay footage further down the line. But hopefully we can get gameplay footage sooner, like, sometime during E3 would be great. It could really boost Sony or Nintendo's conference; preferably Sony's because their conference last year was much less interesting than Nintendo's.

I'm gonna guess right now that Fallout 76 is coming to Switch, but a few months after it comes to PS4.

— Josh (@Icystorm9) June 1, 2018

But Fallout 6 can't be the only game they're showing off. That would be lame! So they've got to announce something else.

Elder Scrolls 3! Bethesda seems to love rereleasing Elder Scrolls 5. There are 7 releases of it as far as I know, maybe 8. But Elder Scrolls 3 is only on 2 platforms- Xbox and PC. The Xbox version doesn't even run that well without an Xbox One X. So here's an idea for Bethesda - rerelease Elder Scrolls 3 on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Vita.

"Vita? Why the Vita, Josh?" Hear me out.

Bethesda likes to port stuff. It could port Elder Scrolls 3 to the Vita to make a bit more money. Even if it's a straight port of the original with no enhancements other than framerate and draw distance, they should be good. The Vita users would definitely pick it up, since the Vita's AAA release schedule in the coming months is pretty much nonexistent. Besides, the Vita is portable. You don't know how many people would buy either a Switch or a Vita just to play Elder Scrolls 3 portably. And since the Vita is the cheaper of the two, there will likely be a decent amount of Vita sales. Bethesda gets the sales from Vita fans, and Sony gets the sales from Elder Scrolls fans. Good?

I didn't bother fixing half the Bethesda logo here. Sorry.

I really hope the ES3 port has that thing that the Master Chief Collection has on Xbox One, where you can switch between the high-definition remaster and the original graphics just by pressing the Select button or something. If it runs at a consistent 30fps and has both graphics modes, then we're gucci. Also include the expansions please Bethesda. I don't see them charging full price for a remake of this game, since Dark Souls is 40 bucks on current platforms, but I can't say for sure.

But I don't expect them to do that at all. Here's what I think they'll actually do.

They WILL talk about Fallout 6. I think they'll announce platforms, just like in that tweet above, and they won't show gameplay, but they'll have a really short trailer. Less than a minute, no doubt. They'll probably have an eSports thing, just like they did last year with Quake III or whatever game it was that they played. They'll announce that, like, Dishonored 2 or something is coming to PSVR. They'll probably announce Skyrim for TurboGrafx16 or Saturn or both. Then it will probably be over and that will be it.

What conference comes up after theirs? Hopefully it's Ubisoft. I'll look at the list later. Whatever it is, I'll be posting about their conference later so be sure to read that one as well.

E3 Wishes and Expectations 2018 - Microsoft

I have more hopes for Microsoft than I do for Electronic Arts. But I'm not entirely sure why. Microsoft doesn't really do much as far as games go, and E3 is all about games. They make Xbox Ones and they make 6th-gen and 7th-gen games run on Xbox One. That's why I'll have a lot more wishes than I'll have expectations, but we'll get to that later.

E3 Wishes and Expectations 2018 - Electronic Arts

So Electronic Arts is the first conference up at E3 2018. I've made it clear that I don't like Electronic Arts in the past, including last year's predictions post. But what do I want to happen this year at E3?

Well first of all, I would think it would be really cool if Electronic Arts would announce that Battlefield V is coming to Switch. I still wouldn't buy it, but shooter fans don't have much to buy a Switch for.

Wait, doesn't EA own the rights to the Simpsons license? And wasn't the last Simpsons game for a platform other than mobile way back in 2007? Why don't we get another Simpsons game? I would rather like that. I think that if the studio had some creative people in charge, a Simpsons title would do very well. The best part is that it doesn't even need to have loot boxes! It's a pre-established franchise, so it has brand power! And I know that EA makes tons of money off Tapped Out, so why not make it multiplat? PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and heck, even put it on 360, PS3, and Wii U if you really can. That would be awesome.

if i'd ask for anything from ea, put pvz garden warefare on the switch its legit their least p2w game

— Matthew (@dingdong4440) May 31, 2018

PVZ Garden Warfare 2 is honestly not something I'm too familiar with. But PVZ is a game that I enjoy, so I wouldn't mind if Garden Warfare 2 found itself on my favorite Nintendo platform besides the GameCube, Wii, and Wii U.

What do I expect from Electronic Arts though?

I'm sure we'll get something about their sports titles. They have Madden and Fifa. I'm sure we'll hear something about their mobile games.

After their whole loot box fiasco last November, I'm sure we'll hear something about how Electronic Arts games will not have loot boxes, or will have very miniscule loot boxes, for the foreseeable future.

And finally, I'm 100% sure we'll see a lot of Anthem this year. Xbox showed off Anthem last year and it got a fair amount of showtime. With the release date inching closer, there might even be a demo of some sort. Probably not, but I can't say for sure.

So that's what I want and what I think Electronic Arts will show off. Now I only have all the other companies to talk about. See you later!

Upcoming Switch Games and My Thoughts on Them

My name is Keri and I'm so very happy to be talking about the Switch. I do it often, but it's a good platform, so can you blame me? Probably in the upper half of my Nintendo console rankings and in the upper half of my 8th-gen rankings (only below the Wii U), it's got a good library of strong titles coming out for the foreseeable future. So I'm gonna take a look at some upcoming titles for the platform and what I think about them.

That's the Japanese version of the box art. Sue me.

Minecraft - Minecraft was already released on Switch about a year ago, but I don't care because it wasn't physical. My siblings decided to buy it, so I tried it out. It runs very similar to how it runs on 360, which is good. But that doesn't matter. That's because the new release runs on Better Together's engine, Bedrock. 

OOF

I tried Bedrock on different devices (Windows 10 PCs and 7" tablets), and I noticed that it doesn't look as nice as it does through Java or on 360. It has a really bad OS, too. Like, the inventory system is confusing, and the menu looks like it was designed for 2-year-olds. And from what I've heard from Xbox One users when they got the Better Together update, there's a chance that your worlds will be corrupted when converting them from the 4J engine to Bedrock. I'll buy it so I own as few games digitally as possible, but I'm not too interested in it personally. Minecraft releases on June 21st.

Okami HD - The original Okami was released on PS2 way back when, and it was very well-received critically. It was released on the Wii and PS3 later, each bringing their own strengths to the game. The Wii had motion controls so the drawing technique worked better, and the PS3 version runs in 720p high-definition. At least on my TV it does. It's a 720p TV. But neither version features both of those enhancements until now. The Switch version is in HD and it features the motion controls that the Wii version has.

But I'm not sure if I'm going to buy it. It's not physical here in the States. It's a shame, because I would love to have it available on Switch physically in English, which isn't confirmed yet for the Japanese release, so I don't know whether to import it or not. If it has English, I might import it. If it doesn't, I'll be sticking with the Wii version. Okami HD releases on August 9th.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - I'm not too interested in shooters outside of the Wii and Halo 2 & 3. But I'd be lying if I said the story to Wolfenstein IX didn't intrigue me just a bit. The game isn't a particularly beautiful game (the only good looking Bethesda games as of late are Doom 4 and Elder Scrolls 5), but it looks like I would get a kick out of it. I might get it, but I'd need to get a memory card first. My Switch doesn't have the space for a 293GB download. Thanks, Bethany. Wolfenstein II is released on Switch on June 29th.

The 2 Mega Man games - Mega Man X Legacy 1&2 is coming out first. I'm not sure if I want to get it or not. Mega Man Legacy is already out on Switch, and despite the fact that Capcom could easily fit all 10 games on one cartridge, they decided to make the second half a download code. It seems they are doing the same thing with the X Legacy Collection. I don't like downloadable games, so I'm not entirely sure if I should buy it. But I think I will probably at some point just for the games on the cartridge. I might give the download code away, or sell it. Mega Man X is a cool franchise. And say what you will, but they could charge 100 bucks for the collection and I'd buy it long before I'd buy a PAL copy of Mega Man X3 on Sega Saturn. Mega Man X Legacy Collection comes out July 24th.

Mega Man 11 is coming out later, and I'm much more excited for that one. A new Mega Man game is much more interesting than ports of old Super Nintendo and Sega Saturn games. I'm really happy they're taking the direction they're taking with the art style, since the industry seems to be oversaturated with indie pixel art games right now after 9 and 10 and a ton of other, unrelated games. And it's only 30 bucks to preorder! I'm super excited for this game, and it's a guaranteed purchase from me. Mega Man 11 is out on October 2nd.

Flashback - This game was released last year on the Dreamcast for the same price, so I'm not getting the Switch version. I just thought I'd promote the Dreamcast some. Go support JoshProd. If you want the Switch version, it's out July 24th.

Sonic Mania Plus - Sonic Mania was released digitally last year. Now it's got a cartoon already available for streaming, a vinyl soundtrack by DATADISCS available for purchase, and a physical copy coming later this year. The physical copy comes with an art book and all upcoming DLC. The DLC includes 2 new characters, a 4-player single split-screen mode, an Angel Island extension, and some new sprites or something. I will definitely be getting this. Sonic Mania Plus is out July 17th.

So those are all the games I have for today. But soon I'll have my E3 predictions posts coming, and after E3 there will be more games to talk about. I can't wait to see what the conference brings us.