PlayStation
- After a lot of rumors, Burnout Paradise HD has at long last been confirmed for a PS4 release in March (currently only confirmed for Japan)
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PS4 has enjoyed it’s best sales year to date, selling over 20M consoles to consumers with 6M within a month over the holiday season alone.
Nintendo
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Pokémon Go will drop support for the iPhone 5 and below after 2/28 as the devices are not capable of upgrading to iOS 11.
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Nintendo filed a Trademark Application in Europe for 1080 Snowboarding leading to speculation that a sequel may be in the works. In all actuality, this is likely just Nintendo protecting their IP.
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Japanese Console market is up over 170% thanks to the success of the Switch (and staggering PS4 holiday sales). This is the first time the Japanese console market has seen growth in over a decade when Japan released the DS, Wii and PS3.
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At CES, Hyperkin revealed a remake of the original GameBoy, currently code named “Ultra Game Boy” The new device will feature an aluminum housing, backlit display, USB charging, and stereo speakers. It’s currently aimed at a release price of under $100 USD
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Well known indie dev Atooi (previously Renegade Kid) announced interest in porting Chicken Wiggle to Switch. The port would be called Chicken Wiggle: Re-Hatched, and would enter a Kickstarter with a relatively low, five figure goal. Levels made in the 3DS version would be playable on the Switch version, and vice versa, and brand-new HD art would be produced for the port
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Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment are rumored to be in negotiations about an animated Mario movie, and Nintendo now believes that talks will wrap up pretty soon because they expect the movie to be ready by 2020.
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After setting the internet into a frenzy Nintendo dropped a mini Direct Friday morning. Here’s the basic rundown:
- The World Ends With You | 2018
- Pokken Tournament DX DLC | January 31, March 23
- Kirby Star Allies | March 16
- Dragon Quest Builders Demo | Out Now
- Hyrule Warriors Ultimate Edition | Spring 2018
- Mario Tennis Aces | Spring 2018
- Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana | Summer 2018
- Super Mario Odyssey Update | February 2018
- SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy | Summer 2018
- Mario + Rabbids DLC | Spring 2018
- Payday 2 | Feb. 27 2018
- Fe | February
- Celeste | January
- Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze | May 4
- Dark Souls Remastered | May 25
Xbox
- January’s Games with Gold have been announced and are the following:
- Albert & Otto: The Adventure Begins
- Space Hulk: Ascension
- Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China
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The closed beta for Sea of Thieves begins January 24th and runs through the 29th and will be available to anyone who joined the insiders program prior to Dec 1st, OR those who pre-orders the game. The beta is NOT covered by NDA, meaning anyone can stream and openly discuss their experience.
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According to reports from Windows Central, Microsoft is working on a new achievements system for Xbox designed for players who tend to focus heavily on a small number of games. According their findings, the new “Career” system will sit alongside the current Gamerscore program, which rewards points to players for completing certain in-game goals.
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The Xbox team seems to be in a constant state of adding and revising when it comes to the Xbox One dashboard . So much so, that I find it hard to keep track of everything that’s changed. This week, a new system update is out for “Alpha ring” Xbox Insider testers that adds a “Do Not Disturb” feature.
Industry News
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Someone may have gotten their hands on an original debug copy of Wind Waker
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Overwatch League has signed a two year partnership deal with Twitch valued at over $90M dollars.
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PUBG will receive an update that allows players to easily report cheaters via the replay feature.
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PUBG now has a new loot system. It’s a strange system. You purchase crates using BP, earned by playing the game. Certain crates then require a key to open, and you have to purchase that key using real money. The unopened crates, or their contents once you’ve opened them, can then be sold on the Steam marketplace. You can also buy items or crates from other players. There will be no grinding for these items. You either luck into one, or you don’t. Which means the value is bound to shoot up in the secondary market, where players buy and sell items for real-world money.
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There’s an official Overwatch League app now that gives you quick access to match streams, VODs, a season schedule, team standings, results (with or without spoilers), alerts that matches are happening, and a few other odds and ends.
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Vive is taking the next step forward in VR with the new Vive Pro head-mounted display and Vive Wireless Adaptor. The biggest improvement on the new Vive Pro is new AMOED display sporting a combined resolution of 2880 x 1600, which is 78 percent denser than what you get on the current Vive. This should result in a less obtrusive “screen door” effect that’s caused by lower-resolution screens. Additionally, the Vive Pro will also now feature built-in headphones with their own dedicated amp, dual mics, and a redesigned headstrap for more comfortable marathon VR sessions. Vive is even adding a second front-facing camera to the Pro, so that developers can better integrate AR features into the headsets range of functions.
