PlayStation
- According to the game’s co-director, The last of Us: Part 2 is close to completion with the studio hiring to “close out the game”.
Nintendo
- Nintendo announced the Super Mario Maker 2 Invitational being held just days before E3 2019 starting on June 8.
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Nintendo announced a bit of a deal for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers: you can buy what are called Game Vouchers which allows you to pre-order or purchase already released games for $100, essentially saving you $20 off of the MSRP. The eshop vouchers are good for 12 months after purchases and include any title from the selection found here on the company’s website .
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Switch has now surpassed sales of PS4 in Japan—which is no small feat—with almost 8.2 millions units shipped to date with the PS4 hovering somewhere around 8.1 million units.
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Pokémon Rumble has released on mobile in Australia with other territories to follow. The mobile title has players pitting their pocket monsters against one another online. Players can explore other islands, and even name them if they’re the first to discover them, in order to find and catch rare Pokemon.
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There’s a rumor going around that Pokémon GO will be compatible with Pokémon Sword and Shield which isn’t the least bit surprising.
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Both My Time at Portia and Saints Row The Third received updates this week for Switch to address performance issues. They both offer varying degrees of success and are step one in what will be a few patches to get both games running more smoothly.
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EA originally announced they were going to host two days of livestreams from EA Play during this year’s E3, however, the company now announced they’ll only be streaming June 8th instead.
Xbox
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This news concerns both Xbox and PlayStation, but I put it here because I had nothing for Xbox this week. Both Microsoft and Sony announced a joint partnership where “The two companies will partner on new innovations to enhance customer experiences in their direct-to-consumer entertainment platforms and AI solutions,” reads the press release. Digging a little deeper it reads, “The two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services. In addition, the two companies will explore the use of current Microsoft Azure datacenter-based solutions for Sony’s game and content-streaming services. By working together, the companies aim to deliver more enhanced entertainment experiences for their worldwide customers.”
I mean, my take is it’s a smart move—Microsoft knows its shit when it comes to large scale date and networking infrastructure. It’s no different than how Amazon’s AWS powers Apple’s iCloud
Industry News
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After initially being denied by Apple, Steam Link has released for iOS and tvOS with support for Steam and Mifi controllers.
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The creators of Fantasy Life, a game Tris and I adore, are officially bringing the Snack World franchise to the West in 2020. The announcement pertains to the popular TV series but also includes the game. We have no details on a release date.
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According to an entry on the Taiwan Ratings Board, Ghostbusters The Video Game Remastered may be on the way and is being published by Mad Dog Games—the people that gave us the real winners NBA Playgrounds and Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn.
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Adorable PSVR adventure Moss is getting new content called Twilight Garden that includes a new mini-boss, new environments, puzzles, character interactions, story, and a weapon/armor set. It launches first on Oculus Quest before hitting other platforms in June.
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Monster Hunter-like game, Dauntless, is launching next week via PC on the Epic Games Store, PS4, and Xbox One. The title is free-to-play and offers in-game purchases.
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World of Warcraft Classic is launching August 27 with a WoW 15th Anniversary Collector’s Edition releasing October 8 for $100. For your hard earned cash, you’ll receive a “treasure trove of collectibles (an Onyxia pin, an Azeroth map mousepad, art prints) and in-game bonus items (Alabaster Stormtalon and Thunderwing mounts),” as well as 30 days of game time for WoW (and Classic, since it’s included in the base subscription), on top of a 10-inch tall Ragnaros statue.
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WWE 2K developer, Yuke’s, announced they’re releasing a second wrestling IP to, uh, compete with its own wrestling series. Here’s an official statement from the studio’s VP:
When we had competitors in the wrestling space, we were determined not to lose and that was a great motivator for creating something great. But right now, looking at the market demands, players are expecting something new every time we release a game and we feel like we haven’t achieved what we’ve really wanted to do.
- A new updates has released for Red Dead Online which brings it out of beta and adds world updates, new missions, poker, new co-op story missions, free roam activities, and more.
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Sega announced the rare US release of Mega Man: The Wily Wars will make it’s official return on the Sega Genesis Mini.
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Ubisoft stated that matchmaking isn’t making it’s way to The Division 2 any time soon…..which is something I kind of assumed it had already. Instead, the massive publisher who is most certainly not short on cash suggests players use LGF tools or Discord.
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Sega announced the final ten games coming to the Genesis Mini:
- Mega Man: The Wily Wars
- Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition
- Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Beyond Oasis
- Golden Axe
- Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium
- Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
- Vectorman
- Wonder Boy in Monster World
