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All Articles: Firewatch
Firewatch will be available for the Switch on December 17
Campo Santo, which was recently purchased by Valve, has confirmed that their first game, Firewatch, will make its way to the Switch later this month. According to a new tweet, the narrative adventure will be available to download through the Nintendo eShop on December 17:
Firewatch is coming to Nintendo Switch on December 17th! We'll be in the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Japan eShops. pic.twitter.com/BJvPnTd4KU
— Campo Santo (@camposanto) December 1, 2018
Firewatch for the Switch will be priced at $19.99, and it’ll include the main game, Free Roam Mode, and Audio Tour Mode.
Valve has acquired Firewatch developer Campo Santo
Valve hasn’t published a new game since 2013’s Dota 2, but that’s all about to change in the very near future. Over the weekend, the gatekeepers of Steam acquired Campo Santo, the team behind Firewatch. In an announcement on their official website, the developer said that their pairing with Valve came about due a mutual enjoyment of “making and producing entertainment”:
If you’re the type of person who gives two flips about this news, we can elaborate a little bit on this big decision. First, we really like making video games. Furthermore, and perhaps more accurately, we really like making and producing entertainment. From the day-to-day production of our last game, Firewatch, to the way we run the company, make merchandise, meet players at expos and shows, send out a quarterly literary journal, throw open-to-the-public game demos in the middle of an artificial forest—all of it is geared towards surprising, delighting, and entertaining the customers who have shared in our success.
In Valve we found a group of folks who, to their core, feel the same way about the work that they do (this, you may be surprised to learn, doesn’t happen every day). In us, they found a group with unique experience and valuable, diverse perspectives. It quickly became an obvious match.
Campo Santo has promised that it will be business as usual going forward, with Valve now signed on to publish their next game, In the Valley of Gods. The developer also said they will continue to publish their literary journal, The Quarterly Review, and future support for Firewatch (including the upcoming Switch launch) will continue as planned.
Finally, this whole deal may have happened because Campo Santo stole a bottle of champagne from IGN that was originally destined for Valve. It sounds a little far-fetched, but I want to believe that it’s nothing but the truth.
Campo Santo will bring Firewatch to the Switch soon
Developer Campo Santo has announced (via their official website) that Firewatch is in the works for the Nintendo Switch. A launch date for the wilderness adventure has yet to be locked down, but Campo Santo is rebuilding the game from the ground up for the Switch, and they hope to release it “soon”:
Firewatch is coming to the Nintendo Switch!
When will it be out? All we can say is “soon!” Reengineering the sprawling meadows and towering trees of Firewatch’s wilderness to play perfectly on new hardware is no small engineering task. We’ve been hard at work stripping much of Firewatch’s tech down to the studs and rebuilding it to render the world more quickly, to stream and load faster, and to generally be more responsive. Nearly everyone in the Campo Santo office has a Nintendo Switch (and the rest want one). We know what a good Switch game feels like, and want to make sure Firewatch feels like one too.
Plus, we’re hoping to throw in a couple surprises just for the Switch release.
Campo Santo added that the “low-level optimizations and tech clean-up” that are being put into the Switch version of Firewatch will also find their way to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in a future performance update.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Firewatch, PAX East 2018
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End named “Best Game” at 2017 BAFTA Games Awards
Nathan Drake is going to ride off into the sunset with one last “Game of the Year” award. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosted the ceremony for the 2017 BAFTA Games Awards last night, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was selected as the year’s “Best Game.”
Playdead’s Inside didn’t win the big prize, but the indie game scooped up four BAFTAs including “Artistic Achievement,” “Game Design,” “Narrative,” and “Original Property.” Ghost Town’s Overcooked (“Best British Game” and “Family”) and Campo Santo’s Firewatch (“Debut Game” and “Performer” for Cissy Jones) also managed to collect multiple awards as part of the festivities.
A whole slew of titles were able to pull out a win in one category last night, and they include That Dragon Cancer (“Game Innovation”), Rocket League (“Evolving Game”), Overwatch (“Multiplayer”), Pokemon Go (“Mobile & Handheld”), The Last Guardian (“Audio Achievement”), and Virginia (“Music”).
A complete list of winners and nominees from the 2017 BAFTA Games Awards is available at Video Game Canon.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Firewatch, Inside, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Rocket League, The Last Guardian, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4 wins “Video Game of the Year” at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was named “Video Game of the Year” at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards last night, finally putting an end to Overwatch‘s winning streak. Nathan Drake’s final adventure also earned the big prize in the “Excellence in Narrative” and “Excellence in Animation” categories, and the treasure hunter himself won for “Most Memorable Character.”
However, don’t feel too bad for Blizzard, Overwatch took home three SXSW Gamnig Awards including “Esports Game of the Year,” “Most Promising New Intellectual Property,” and “Excellence in Multiplayer.”
The WWE’s Austin “Xavier Woods” Creed hosted the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards, and he also handed out statuettes to a wide variety of other games including Pokemon Go (“Mobile Game of the Year”), Doom (“Excellence in Gameplay” and “Excellence in Musical Score”), Battlefield 1 (“Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in SFX”), and Dishonored 2 (“Excellence in Design”). And this year’s “Tabletop Game of the Year” award was given to Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
You can find all the winners from last night’s SXSW Gaming Awards show at Video Game Canon.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Tabletop Games, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: The Telltale Series, Battlefield 1, Dishonored 2, Doom (2016), Firewatch, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4 leads all games at the 2017 BAFTA Games Awards with 8 nominations
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the 2017 Games Awards, which will be handed out in a special ceremony in London on April 6. Viewers at home will be able to watch a livestream of ceremony through BAFTA’s Twitch channel.
This year’s top nominee is Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which scored eight nominations including “Game of the Year.” Nathan Drake’s final adventure will also compete in the “Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Music,” and “Narrative” categories, as well as with three separate nominations in the “Performer” category (Troy Baker, Nolan North, and Emily Rose).
Uncharted 4 will fight for BAFTA’s “Game of the Year” honor against five other critically-acclaimed games from 2016 including Campo Santo’s Firewatch, Playdead’s Inside, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Concerned Ape’s Stardew Valley, and Respawn’s Titanfall 2.
The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Firewatch, Inside, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Rocket League, Stardew Valley, The Last Guardian, TitanFall 2, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Overwatch is “Game of the Year” at the 2017 GDC Awards
Overwatch continues to rack up year-end awards for Blizzard Entertainment, and it picked up two more statuettes last night during the Game Developers Choice Awards. After more than a month of deliberations, the GDC committee choose to bestow “Game of the Year” status on the team-based shooter, as well as “Best Design” for its colorful world.
Two other games collected multiple awards at last night’s GDC Awards. Playdead’s platformer, Inside, earned “Best Audio” and “Best Visual Art.” And later in the night, Campo Santo’s Firewatch was selected as “Best Debut” and its story was honored with “Best Narrative.”
“This year’s amazing slate of winners is a testament to the diversity of experiences in games,” said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference.
Scavio added: “Pokemon Go [“Best Mobile/Handheld Game”] took gaming outdoors using AR, while Job Simulator [“Best VR/AR Game”] showed how lo-fi aesthetics could meet cutting edge tech for a winning VR experience. Overwatch once again proved Blizzard’s uncanny ability to make a perfectly balanced multiplayer game, and Inside delved deep into our dark psyches to unearth our scariest nightmares. These nominees speak to the strength of games as a medium, but also show the various textures and possible creative outlets that interactive entertainment can provide. Congrats to all of the winners and nominees for following their visions and thanks to all developers who strive to make amazing games for us day in and day out.”
The full list of winners from the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 1, Firewatch, GDC 2017, Inside, No Man's Sky, Overwatch, Pokemon Go, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Inside leads the way with six nominations at 2017 GDC Awards
The organizers of the Game Developers Conference have announced the nominees for the 2017 Game Developers Choice Awards, which will be held on March 1 at 9:30 (Eastern Time). Playdead’s Inside tallied six nominations, including “Game of the Year,” “Best Narrative,” “Best Design,” “Best Visual Art,” “Best Audio,” and the “Innovation Award.”
Competing with Inside for “Game of the Year” honors this year is Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Arkane’s Dishonored 2, and Campo Santo’s Firewatch.
Double Fine’s Tim Schafer will host the GDC Awards this year for the sixth time. He previously hosted the ceremony in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015.
The full list of nominees, and a huge number of Honorable Mentions, can be found after the break. (more…)