Recap 6.2.17

PlayStation


  • After 11 years and 80M consoles sold to consumers, Sony has ceased production of the PS3. While I love it’s library of games and some of the new series it spawned (Resistance Fall of Man) I cringe whenever I go back to it. I mean, it’s so slow, albeit not where near as much as Wii U.
  • Pyre, the next game from the folks over at Supergiant (they made Bastion and Transistor) will releases on PS4 July 25. Daney and I played it at PAX East and walked away fairly disappointed.
  • A new gold PS4 1TB slim SKU has been spotted in the wild by multiple sources, with said sources claiming a release date of June 9 here in The States.

Nintendo


  • Popular Japanese gaming publication Famitsu recently ran a Splatoon 2 feature where Nintendo revealed the game won’t support any chat support whatsoever with people not in your friends list.
  • Nintendo filed a new trademark for its upcoming attraction at Universal Studios, Super Nintendo World. In it are various little tidbits, but what really jumped out at us was “management or arrangement of kart racing”. So expect something Mario Kart related. Now what about Splatoon? ?
  • Platinum Games confirmed they’re still working away on an “interesting” game for Switch. We can’t help but wonder, could it be a new IP, a sequel to something existing like Bayonetta/Vanquish, or the studio’s take on an existing Nintendo franchise like Star Fox. Whatever the case, with Platinum’s recent slump (Starr Fox Zero, TMNT Mutants in Manhattan) we hope this new game is, well, good.
  • Hot on the heels of the release of Magikarp Jump ( read Daney’s thoughts ) The Pokémon Company announced a new mobile title called Pokéland. Think Pokémon Rumble but for your phone and you get the idea. There’s an alpha available now for Android and it was revealed game progress will be wiped once the final title releases.
  • It’s been a few weeks but NBA Playgrounds still doesn’t have any online functionality for those with Nintendo Switch. To try and make up for this, Saber Interactive revealed those who purchase the game on Nintendo’s console before the upcoming update is released will receive Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn for free this Fall.
  • Nintendo revealed it’s online service will cost $20 a year, but will remain free until 2018 (pushed back from the Fall). Users can also opt for a one month subscription for $4 or three months for $8. No word yet on Virtual Console.
  • Niantic made public that legendary Pokémon and PvP battles will becoming to Pokémon GO this summer in an interview. So fans should be getting what was initially revealed prior to the game’s launch.
  • The Pokémon Company’s profits blew up by 20x in the past fiscal year from $5.6M to $143.3M—that’s insane!
  • Nintendo confirmed with Kotaku a big change to it’s online service. Gamers can pay for the service for $20 per year, $8 for 3 months, or $4 for one month. The big change is that gamers will be able to keep the retro games they’re given for free each month as long as they remain subscribed to the service.

Xbox


  • We got nothing. But Tristan has an excellent article saying why Xbox needs to bring their A Game to this year’s E3.

Industry News


  • According to Square Enix, both the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III are expected to release within the next three years. So, you know, probably be the time we have the next PlayStation and Xbox. The news comes after the company moved all of FF VII’s development in-house.
  • On the topic of Square Enix, the company has sold off IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series. The rights for the Hitman series still belong to Square Enix, although the publisher is unsure if they are going to sell the IP or retain the rights.
  • Far Cry 5 is set to release across PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 27, 2018. The game comes primarily from the team behind Far Cry 3 and 4 and mostly differs from past games because it isn’t about shooting up a beautiful island run by a madman in the South Pacific or a lovely region run by a madman in the Himalayas. It’s about blasting through a section of modern Montana controlled by a Bible-thumping madman who runs a heavily-armed militia.
  • RiME developer Tequila Works took to the Steam forums to discuss the reasons behind the studio’s decision to use DRM tool Denuvo. What’s odd is a representative claimed if RiME is ever cracked, they would remove the DRM from all past and future builds. What’s funny about this is the game was cracked wide open a mere two days later, supposedly adding a huge boost to in-game performance as it was discovered the DRM pings the game hundred of thousands of times every second! Damn!
  • Sega announced Sonic Mania will be out August 15 for a mere $20, which doesn’t seem bad at all. Those springing for the collector’s edition will have to shell out $70 unless you get a discount through Amazon Prime or Best Buy’s Gamers Unlocked program.
  • Big name publisher and Rockstar owner Take Two has purchased physics-based sim Kerbal Space Program with hopes of continuing the IP. The company is working closely with previous owner Blitworks on a free new update for console owners. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.
  • Andrew Paradise, CEO of mobile gaming platform Skillz, announced the company is bringing the Street Fighter franchise to it’s platform through a new partnership with Capcom. Skillz is the leading mobile platform for eSports, with over 12M users competing across 3K games. It’s a brave new world for mobile I guess. I mean, look at where the Pokémon series seems to be heading…..
  • Deck Nine Games, previously known as Idol Minds, may have accidentally leaked info for a Life is Strange sequel. Gaming site Gamekult discovered an image in in the source code for Deck Nine Games’ site. Shortly after an anonymous user posted an Imgur gallery containing eight screenshots and a piece of concept art. We may hear more in a couple weeks.

Antonio Worrall
Antonio Worrallhttps://antonioworrall.com
I'm a Senior IT Support Engineer, every day tech geek, gaming enthusiast, world traveler, and foodie living with my wife and cat in the NY/NJ area.

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