PlayStation
- Sony will publish an indie game on the Nintendo Switch. Specifically, it’s Sony Music Entertainment, who are now publishing games on their own through a new label called Unties. The first game from the studio is Tiny Metal, an Advance Wars-inspired action-strategy game from Japanese developer Area35. It will be released on the Switch and other platforms on November 21.
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Hori is introducing an officially licensed mini controller for PS4 aimed at younger gamers.
Nintendo
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Nintendo Switch received a sizable update to version 4.0 which brought a lot of new features. Players can now save the last 30 seconds of video, trim it, and upload it on Facebook or Twitter. Well, for the four supported games (Zelda BoTW, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, and ARMS with Super Mario Odyssey said to be supported as well. Perhaps the biggest feature is the ability to transfer your game saves from one Switch to another, although don’t get too excited as the process is the same shitty one used for 3DS. Support for wireless headsets plugged in via USB was also snuck in there as was firmware updates for the Joycons.
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You’ll want to ensure you have ample space on your microSD card if you plan on going digital for WWE 2K18 for Switch as the game will take up a sizable 32GB of space on the card along with 1GB of internal storage in the Switch itself. The good news is the game offers content parity with the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
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Part one of a two-part DLC release for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has dropped and includes a bunch of challenge matches (as if the game wasn’t challenging enough). More specifically, The Ultra Challenge Pack features “Special Challenges” that offer difficult maps which you can get to from the secret area in each of the four worlds. It also includes the ‘Cataclysm Kerfuffle’, co-op campaign comprised of five maps with more difficult versions that can be unlocked.
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Doom launches for Switch on November 10 for those who can’t wait to take the demon-bashing carnage on the go.
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The Switch is great—there’s no denying we love Nintendo’s latest console—but the UI of the eShop could definitely use improvement. Nintendo is making baby steps towards progress and has added a new (and much needed) section to the online storefront: “Games on Sale”. As the name suggests, this section shows all of the games that are currently on sale and discounted on the service.
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Those of you who remember renting games (and even game consoles) back in the 90’s are about to get a blast from the past. Redbox, the automated rental kiosks that can be found littering the US, are starting to offer Switch titles for the public to take out for a few fun nights in. As of writing, the offer is only live in Portland, San Antonio and Washington, where you can rent out either Pokken Tournament, Splatoon 2, Just Dance 2018, LEGO Ninjago, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle or NBA 2K18 for around three bucks a night. Not too shabby. This is in alignment with games for other consoles, such as PS4, which the company have been renting out for some time now.
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One of the game Tristan, Daney, and I loved at PAX East is making it’s way to Switch—and we’re all THRILLED! This title is none other than Moonlighter, a game where you play as a shopkeeper by day and a forager and dungeon raider by night. Whatever you find on your nightly adventures can be sold in your shop during the day. It’s a fun take on the RPG series while adding in rogue like dungeons.
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Nintendo’s holiday gift guide is now live at happyholidays.nintendo.com. It’s very cheerful and spotlights how great a year Nintendo has had so far.
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It has been revealed that 2/3 of all console hardware sales in September was Nintendo hardware.
Xbox
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News broke that Cuphead has crossed the 1M sales mark since it’s release a few weeks ago. We’re happy for the tiny studio and happy Xbox faithful have something to play.
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The Fall update for Xbox one has released, bringing a refreshed UI and a speedier dashboard
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Halo: The Master Chief Collection is being updated with “fixes and Xbox One X enhancements” in 2018. Hopefully this means the game is finally playable.
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Halo 5 will receive a November update, adding 4k resolution esports related skins and the addition of Halo Local Server. This allows players to finally play Halo 5 Multiplayer via LAN by hosting their own dedicated local server on a Windows 10 PC.
Industry News
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IGN has acquired indie-gaming deal and charity site, Humble Bundle. According to IGN, Humble will continue to operate independent of the gaming juggernaut.
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According to NPD data, sales of Destiny 2 are well below expectations in territories like the UK and Japan. Here in the US, sales are down a staggering 50% since launch compared to it’s predecessor. Personally, I enjoy the game but stopped playing after the first or second week and have zero desire to pick it back up.
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Over the course of last weekend, former Naughty Dog employee David Ballard publicly stated that he was a victim of sexual harassment during his time at the developer and claimed that he was harassed by a “lead” in late 2015. He states that after sharing his complaints with Sony’s HR department, he was terminated and offered a measly $20K as a financial incentive to leave quietly. According to Ballard, he declined this offer. As expected, Naughty Dog has officially released a statement which we included in full below:
”We have recently read on social media that an ex-employee of Naughty Dog, Dave Ballard, claims he was sexually harassed when he worked at Naughty Dog. We have not found any evidence of having received allegations from Mr. Ballard that he was harassed in any way at Naughty Dog or Sony Interactive Entertainment. Harassment and inappropriate conduct have no place at Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment. We have taken and always will take reports of sexual harassment and other workplace grievances very seriously. We value every single person who works at Naughty Dog and Sony interactive Entertainment. It is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a safe, productive workplace environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for making games.”
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EA has decided to close down Visceral Games as well as scrapping the work the studio did over the past 3 1/2 years on a single player driven Star Wars game. Now, EA Vancouver has taken over and the game is changing direction to be a multiplayer game.
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Developer UsTwo reveled Monument Valley 2 will release on Android November 6.
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Activision has been granted a new patent regarding microtranscations….and it does’t sound good. The patent itself illustrates, for example, how “junior players” could be matched with “marquee players” in order to have them lusting after the pro’s gear – potentially driving microtransactions. It also hypothesises how playing habits could be identified, suggesting that a wannabe sniper could be matched with an expert sniper in order to push sales of better weapons. And scarily, it proposes placing players who have spent money in matches where their purchased items are extra effective, encouraging them to feel good about their purchases and thus drive more.
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Overwatch has surpassed 35M players across all platforms.
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Sega has opened a brand new online store for its fans. The digital store, which only just started today, can be accessed here.
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According to Eurogamer, Warner Bros is shelving Lego Dimensions, putting to bed yet another ‘Toys to life’ game as well as solidifying Amiibo as the undisputed champion of this stupid fad.
