Weekly Retro: 12/31 – 1/4

PlayStation

• Sony announced January’s PS Plus lineup:
  * Steep | PS4
  * Portal Knights | PS4
  * Zone of the Enders HD Collection | PS3
  * Amplitude | PS3
  * Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion | PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
  * Super Mutant Alien Assault | PS Vita

Nintendo

• There’s speculation the current Xbox-only platformer Super Lucky’s Tale is coming to Switch if a profile on LinkedIn is to be believed. Concept artist Taylor Smith had written that he “worked on environment assets for the upcoming Nintendo Switch port”. So, uh, there it is.

• This isn’t necessarily news, but it is fun. Twitter user @phubans shared an image on the site revealing his 87-year-old grandma has played the game for over 3,580 hours. After doing the numbers, and that’s almost 150 full days’ worth of playtime! The tweet said she’s played the game every single day for the past four years since Christmas 2014, with the software being booted up 2,521 times. Since the tweet went viral, heartfelt gamers have chipped in to make sure she can play it on Switch when it releases!

• The Pokémon Company revealed the next feature film in the monster catching franchise, called Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution. It’s set to release some time in 2019 and the debut trailer suggests it may be a reimagining of the first-ever Pokémon movie.

Xbox

• New Games Pass Games have been added to Microsoft’s gaming buffet service. They are:
• Life is Strange
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Life is Strange 2: Part 1 (remaining episodes will be added)
• Ark Survival Evolved
• Farming Simulator 17
• Absolver
• Just Cause 3

• Aftercharge

• Sea of Thieves has received a slew of updates since its launch in early 2018 with many more coming down the pipeline to improve the game. In a recent, Executive Producer Joe Neate talked about the main systems and modes coming to PvE and PvP. As for the former, an enhanced quest system is being worked on right now.

Industry News

• According to a blog post shared by Natsume Inc president, Hiro Maekawa 2018 was one of the best years for Natsume in recent history, with the latest Harvest Moon title setting a new sales record.

  We released our latest entry in the Harvest Moon franchise, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition in May for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The title performed well beyond our forecast and even set new sales record with the number of both physical and digital combined.

• Say what you want about Sonic Forces, but Sonic Mania was a fantastic game. Arguably one of the other standout titles is the 1998 Dreamcast release, Sonic Adventure. Just like Mario in Mario 64, this was Sonic’s first mainline outing to feature 3D visuals and went on to become the best-selling title on the system. In a recent interview with Retro Gamer, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka mentioned how this particular entry was still unique and said how he would like to create a remake of it:
  

  • It was the first highspeed 3D action game that also featured a scenario highlighted with six different stories, the A-life Chao, six unique styles of gameplay – it is a unique game offering even 20 years after its release. At the time, it also wasn’t just a solitary software release, it was the title to bring people to the Dreamcast and we were given the budget to make something to showcase the hardware. However, it was the very first 3D game that we worked on and looking at it now I can see the rough edges it has, which really makes me want to remake it again.

• Last week publisher Devolver Digital confirmed Downwell would fall onto Switch January 31. Now, in a bit of a surprise announcement, the creator Ojiro Fumoto revealed he’s officially left Nintendo after being picked up by the Japanese company about a year ago. He explained the reason as the following:
  

  I was working at Nintendo for most of 2018 but I quit at the end of the year to pursue being an indie dev again. Working there was an incredible experience but ultimately I found my passion to simply be making a thing I want to make. So yeah, I’ll get working on that this year!

• Recently, a Youtuber by the name of Doctre81 made an interesting discovery on an EA Software Engineer’s LinkedIn webpage. The profile—not publicly revealed—shows how the individual has been working on bringing existing software development kits to the Nintendo Switch. EA’s Frostbite engine is not directly referenced, but the user goes on to state how they have worked on SDKs that have previously been used in Battlefield V and Anthem. Currently the FIFA games are running on a custom-made engine for Nintendo’s hybrid console. If this profile is accurate, it suggests EA could be bringing Frostbite engine support to the Switch which wouldn’t be all that surprising at this point.

• If you’re itching to get your hands on ANTHEM before it releases on February 22, then you’re going to have two opportunities to do so. EA confirmed two demos are lined up ahead of the full game’s release, giving everyone the chance to take the title for a test drive with both demos featuring the same content. The first demo is out later this month on January 25. There will also (of course) be a VIP demo after which will require an ANTHEM pre-order. Taking part will apparently grant you access to some bonus in-game item too, but there are no further details on this just yet. This VIP demo’s set to last just a couple of days.

• Former Hearthstone director Ben Brode and a group of his colleagues left Blizzard last year to open their own studio, Second Dinner. The studio has yet to release a game or drop any trailers for upcoming projects, but they revealed they just stuck a deal for a $30 million investment from the Chinese company NetEase to make a game set in the Marvel universe.