PlayStation
- Epic has shared that since the launch of Fortnite’s battle royale mode, the free game has seen over 10M players on PS4 within the past two weeks.
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To celebrate PSVR’s one year anniversary, PlayStation is having a massive sale on VR titles from now through October 17. Check out the PlayStation Blog or PSN Store to scope out the deals.
Nintendo
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After the lackluster sales of Chicken Wiggle on 3DS, Atooi’s CEO Jools Watshum announced he’s releasing a Mutant Mudds collection for Switch and that the indie scene on for 3DS has shifted.
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Game director Ed Boon expressed to GameSpot that he’d like to see Injustice 2 and other NetherRealm games make their way to Switch, but that he has nothing to announce at this point.
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We really enjoyed indie platform Slime-san, and now we learned the title will be getting free Blackbird’s Kraken DLC within the next two months as well as a demo. The free DLC will feature a new campaign with its own story and boss, 25 new levels (with New Game+), a new hub world, new mini-games, new target modes, new settings, online leaderboards for all levels, and more.
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Nintendo has another collaboration under its belt, this time with a focus on it’s female audience. In partnership with shu uemura, a number of Super Mario Bros. beauty products are now available and consumers can purchase limited-edition eyeliners, blushes, and other makeup from the comp.
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Nintendo shares have now hit a 10-year high with the company’s shares not haven’t been this valuable since the glory days of the Wii.
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Nintendo is gearing up to launch its highly popular Switch console in China, the biggest gaming market in the world. The country has notoriously strict rules about video games, so Nintendo has partnered up with Chinese company Tencent to bring its games to the market there. When the Switch launches in China in December, it will have localized versions of Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (in 2018), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (launch day), and many others. In addition, a bunch of games on the Switch eShop will also be available in China, including Puyo Puyo Tetris, Sonic Forces, and more.
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Nintendo registered a new GameBoy trademark in Japan which sparked speculation of an entry in the company’s Classic series.
Industry News
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Image & Form, the developers behind the excellent SteamWorld Dig 2, have announced a speed running contest in partnership with the team at Ultime Decathlon. The contest will take place between September 24 and December 3, 2017, is free to enter, and open to anyone who wants to take on the challenge and/or be part of our amazing community of SWD2 speedrunners. Players will be able to win many cool prizes including SWD merchandise and even a chance to meet and hang out with the dev.
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EA has been receiving fan backlash from players for the inclusion of microtranscations called StarCards in Battlefront II. These StarCards offer upgraded versions of basic stats and abilities for the multiplayer mode and are crucial for anyone who wants to develop the most powerful characters and ships possible. The issue is they’re only obtainable through random loot drops that players can purchase outright using in-game currency called credits. Those looking to upgrade as fast as possible have the option to buy them with real cash, so it really emphasizes the much loathed ‘pay to win’ style that’s been plaguing the industry.
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Mass Effect: Andromeda will make its way to EA Access sometime between now and the end of the year on both PC and Xbox One.
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According to Steam, battle-royale style shooter PUBG has reached a new peak of over 2M concurrent players, which is crazy to think about.
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Oculus Rift and Touch bundle has received a permanent price cut to $399.
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Over the past few weeks, as randomized loot boxes have dominated the conversation surrounding this fall’s video games, there have been calls for the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to classify them as gambling in its back-of-the-box ratings. But the ESRB says that’s not going to happen—because according to a spokesperson, loot boxes don’t fit the bill. They had the following to say:
“ESRB does not consider loot boxes to be gambling. While there’s an element of chance in these mechanics, the player is always guaranteed to receive in-game content (even if the player unfortunately receives something they don’t want). We think of it as a similar principle to collectible card games: Sometimes you’ll open a pack and get a brand new holographic card you’ve had your eye on for a while. But other times you’ll end up with a pack of cards you already have.”
I have to say, that makes a lot of sense to me. -
A while back the games media reported that changing your skin color to black in South Park: Fractured But Whole would result in the the game’s difficulty getting harder. This is now confirmed as false according to Games Radar, and is purely cosmetic.
