Operation Backlog Completion 2026
Aug 182025
 

While we still don’t have another general Nintendo Direct, like I’ve been waiting for, Nintendo has announced a Kirby Air Riders Direct for tomorrow.

It will start at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET and last for 45 minutes.

I never played Kirby Air Ride (or much of any Kirby games at all, really), but I’m interested in seeing what this new game is all about.

45 minutes is a fair amount of time to spend on one game, so hopefully they have a lot of interesting things to share.

Mario Kart World didn’t catch my attention enough to make me want a Switch 2 for it, but maybe Kirby Air Riders will. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, the Tales remaster is also going to be announced tomorrow, rather than today, at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET. I’m still hoping it will be not just Xillia, but also Xillia 2 bundled with it.

And Gamescom Opening Night is tomorrow afternoon, too, so we’ve potentially got a lot of game announcements to look forward to.

What are you hoping to see in the Kirby Air Riders Direct?

Aug 152025
 

We’ve been waiting for the Tales remaster announcement planned for this summer, and it looks like it will probably be Tales of Xillia after all.

Xillia remaster rumors have been floating around for over a year, but now the announcement was accidentally leaked by Bandai Namco themselves.

Yesterday, Bandai Namco Europe uploaded a video to premiere on August 18 with the title “Tales of Series News” and a shot from Xillia, which several fans got screenshots of before it was quickly taken down.

So it seems we’ll be getting Tales news on Monday, and it’s presumably a Xillia remaster.

Xillia was the first Tales game I ever played, and I have a soft spot for it. I don’t know if I’ll replay it, but it’s tempting, especially since there are some differences depending on whether you pick Jude or Milla’s story.

I’ve also still got my fingers crossed that it will be both Xillia games bundled together, because I never played the second game. I have it, but I’d rather play a remaster than dig out my PS3 for it.

I’m also curious about the fact that the video was titled “Tales of Series News” instead of just being an announcement trailer for the game. Is it possible that we’ll get more Tales news besides the remaster announcement? It would be nice if they revealed the next new game at the same time, or even another remaster.

What are you hoping for from the Tales announcement? Do you think Tales of Xillia and its sequel will be remastered together?

Aug 132025
 

As I continue to make slow progress through the Trails series, having just finished the third Trails in the Sky game, the remake of the first is just over a month away.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, a full remake of the original game, is due out on September 19 for PC, PS5, and Switch, making the start of the series more accessible to new fans.

The remake looks beautiful, with additions like the hybrid action/turn-based combat introduced in the later games.

Meanwhile, a new interview suggests it might take quite a bit longer to beat than the original Trails in the Sky FC. According to the interview, translated here by RPG Site, the main programmer said it took 80 hours to finish.

The interview goes on to say that if you do all of the exploration-related elements, let the voiced dialogue play out, and do all of the quests, it could be twice as long as the original.

Now, some fans are worried that this might make the remake feel bloated. I understand the concern. Trails in the Sky FC has a pretty slow pace as it is, so extending that story to last even longer might make it feel like it drags on. On the other hand, it sounds like a lot of this added time might simply be a result of the remake having voiced dialogue, more elaborate scenes, and bigger areas to explore.

So it remains to be seen whether the story will actually feel longer, or if it’s simply a matter of the same events taking more time. I’m optimistic for the remake (even though I probably won’t play it for a while because of my backlog).

On the other hand, if being remake extends the length of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter by that much, I’m terrified to imagine how long the remake of Second Chapter will end up being…

What do you think about the claim that the Trails in the Sky remake might be twice as long?