Ben’s Week In Review: May 1

We start a new month and as you all know by now, a new chapter in life for yours truly .

As I said in that farewell piece, I'll still try to do the Week in Review but it'll be more like an extended gaming update, as I won't be following news as much. So, just a few notes from me:

Games I Want…Badly

I'm not interested in the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided special editions (I rarely care about collectible stuff), but this is undoubtedly one of my most anticipated titles of 2016. And it's strange, too…

Those who know me know I can't stand sci-fi settings and I'm also not the biggest fan of first-person action/RPGs. These are two very big reasons why I despise Fallout , though I suppose that's more post-apocalyptic than sci-fi. The point is, I really shouldn't like Deus Ex at all but in fact, I've always loved it and I've never really been able to pinpoint exactly why. It could be the narrative, which has always been pretty good, or it could be the fact that I can sort of play it like a stealth/action game if I so choose.

I know not many around here are anxiously anticipating Mirror's Edge Catalyst but I am. I adored the first one and while I know the sequel won't have the same emphasis on puzzle-solving, at least they kept guns out of the equation. So long as the parkour mechanic is spot-on, this one should be great. Didn't get a chance to dive into the beta but that's okay; I prefer to wait until the final product is out, anyway.

I've said before that I Am Setsuna could be the ultimate JRPG love note and I'm holding out hope that this is precisely what it ends up being. I know Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness is coming out this summer, too, but I haven't finished a SO title since the second one back on the original PlayStation. I dunno…I always burn out with these games before I can finish them. I Am Setsuna , on the other hand, might hook me.

I have to say, if the Blood and Wine expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt really does come out on June 7, it's going to throw a major wrench into the works. I almost never play DLC or expansions but as The Witcher 3 is my favorite game of the generation to date, and Hearts of Stone was fantastic , I have to play the second expansion. And let's not forget that it's supposed to be 20 freakin' hours long, double the length of Hearts of Stone!

And of course, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End . The reason I say "to date" above is because I'm pretty convinced Naughty Dog's latest is gonna end up in the top spot for me. Though I have to say, Ratchet & Clank ranks right up there.

A little more personal stuff

Firstly, I really do appreciate the outpouring of thanks I've seen over the past 24 hours or so; I'm even hearing from fellow journalists I haven't spoken to in years via email. They all have some very nice things to say and though I don't do social media, there have been some wonderful comments on the PSXE Twitter and Facebook pages as well.

I will not go into detail concerning my new venture, as I said before, but I can say that it involves overseeing/managing content and distribution for a major up-and-coming site, and I have an independent project as well that will be completed this summer. In short, I'm extremely busy; I just wanted to make it clear that I have no choice here. If there was any way I could've kept doing stuff for PSXE, I would've made it work. But these things require all of my attention, plain and simple. And no, none of this – with the exception of a small side pet project, not mentioned here – involves video games in any capacity.

But there were indeed a lot of memories here and I can't possibly list them all. Maybe in the future, we'll all be settled in a "post-PSXE" forum somewhere, rambling in a bunch of "hey, remember when?" threads. 😉 For instance, remember when we had to keep the secret of Twisted Metal for PS3 for like a year and a half? Jaffe's partner slipped it during an interview and when Dave asked me to be discreet, I agreed…and he repaid the favor by giving us an exclusive on the project just before he went on stage to unveil it at E3. And remember that bad-ass announcement to close Sony's show? Man, that was sweeeet.

That's just one memory, of course. Many others. Honestly, last year's E3 ranks right up there for me, too. Ah well. All good things…and all that. 🙂

Ben-Dutka (19)