Nintendo
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Niantic is implementing a new three strikes policy for Pokémon GO to punish cheaters using unauthorized services. Strike 1 is a warning, Strike 2 is a suspension, and Strike 3 is a termination of your account.
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Unreal Engine 4.20 has launched bringing significant improvements for Switch development learned from Epic portion Fortnite to the console.
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Almost everyone has been complaining about how unbalanced Bowser Jr is in Mario Tennis Aces. Well he’s been nerfed as of patch 1.1.2.
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It’s been revealed that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will take up 16GB of storage. So I hope you took advantage of the excellent discounts on microSD cards during Prime Day.
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Ubisoft announced that South Park: The Stick of Truth will release digitally on the eShop this September. No price nor firm release date has been given.
Xbox
- The latest free expansion for Sea of Thieves called Cursed Sails will release July 31. The new content will include skeleton ships loaded with AI enemies and a new ship designed for a three player crew.
Industry News
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Custom matches are making their way to all PUBG gameplay modes and, while they’re free in the beta, it has been revealed there may be an extra charge for those who want to take advantage of them once they release. The reason for this, according to the dev, is “the extremely large amount of resources required to allow custom games to be available to all players”.
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Slime Rancher has been updated to version 1.3 in what’s dubbed “Automatic Update”. The headlining feature is the ability to purchase cutesy little drone robo-buddies that can perform menial tasks for you like selling ports or refilling food sources. As someone whose nearing 100 hours with the indie darling, I’m admittedly looking forward to some extra help on the farm. The update is live on PC and is said to hit Xbox later in the week.
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All of World of Warcraft’s available content — aside from the soon to be released Battle for Azeroth expansion — is now included in the game’s $14.99 monthly subscription fee with the original title unavailable as a standalone purchase.
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A rather excellent 15 minute fan film based on Uncharted starring Nathan Fillion released earlier in the week and garnered over 2M views in less than 24 hours. The director has actually received a lot of contact about pursuing this further, but he won’t go into details obviously. All I have to say is Nathan Fillion makes a damn good Nathan Drake.
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Warner Bros. Has patched Middle-earth: Shadow of War to remove all microtransactions. No longer can you spend money on premium currency or on loot boxes that give you a random shot at premium gear. No longer can you buy orcs in the game’s digital marketplace.
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Germany has put a ban on preordering games that don’t have firm release dates. That’s not such a bad idea.
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Octopath Traveler is an excellent game in my opinion, and it seems a lot of other people thought so too. So many, in fact, that Square Enix issued an apology to those many people who were unable to obtain a physical version of the game.
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Earlier in the week someone uncovered a single typo in a line of code for Alien Colonial Marines. Changing the word in the .ini file from “Teather” to “Tether” made the alien enemy’s AI noticeably smarter. This is because the AI code was literally broken—enemies weren’t aware of their surroundings or the space around them, meaning they couldn’t flank or perform any kind of basic AI maneuver. Crazy times.
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Hello Games will release a major update for No Man’s Sky next week that it calls No Man’s Sky “Next.” The Next iteration of the game will add a host of new features, including a “full multiplayer experience” that lets players team up with friends and interact with random space travelers; the option to play in first- or third-person view; and the ability to command fleets of ships as you explore the universe.
Word on the Street
- The official site for the Spyro Reignited Trilogy has Switch listed in its preorder section, although no formal announcement has been made.
