Most Recent: News

Rumor: Another insider is saying the NX will use cartridges instead of optical discs

nintendologo

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal is claiming that games for Nintendo’s NX console will come on cartridges.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that the NX will use cartridges instead of the currently-much-more-common optical discs (Eurogamer made a similar claim in July), but if the console is also meant to function as a handheld, it makes a certain amount of sense.

The Wall Street Journal argues that the near-indestructibility of cartridges is something the family-friendly Nintendo is very interested in:

Industry watchers said cartridges were a reasonable choice for Nintendo’s next-generation system, code-named NX, because the company targets a wider range of consumers than Sony or Microsoft. Nintendo’s core fans include small children, who might scratch discs but find cartridges tougher to damage. Cartridges also allow games to load faster, are harder to copy and can be mass-produced faster than discs, they said.

The Wii U currently uses a Nintendo-specific flavor of Blu-ray, so if the NX were to use cartridges instead of discs, it’s unlikely that the NX would have any kind of backwards compatibility features, which have become a standard part of Nintendo’s consoles over the years.

Nintendo is widely expected to officially unveil the NX sometime this month. But bear in mind that even that is just a rumor at this point.

Posted in News, Switch |

The Walking Dead Season 3 gets a new name and a November launch date

thewalkingdeadthenewfrontier-posterDevelopers from Telltale Games have always said they never liked referring to the third game in their Walking Dead series as The Walking Dead Season 3. Today, during a PAX West panel hosted by the publisher, the game’s official title was finally revealed…

So say hello to The Walking Dead: A New Frontier.

“This third new season will serve as both a continuation of what’s come before in our story, as well as an all-new beginning set nearly four years after the outbreak events of Season One,” said Kevin Bruner, the CEO of Telltale Games. “As a harrowing and horrific drama, A New Frontier will explore beyond what it means to survive in a world ravaged by the undead, and will see our characters confronting the new rules of order and justice in a land being brutally reclaimed and rediscovered by what’s left of humanity itself.”

“When we began this series, we explored what it meant to protect a character like Clementine at all costs,” said Kevin Boyle, an Executive Producer on the Walking Dead series. “Years later, meeting her for the first time, Javier will begin to unravel the mystery of who Clementine has become, as her story intersects with his – both of them still driven by the things they value most long after society’s collapse.”

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier’s first episode will be available this November for consoles, mobile devices, and the PC. Like other recent Telltale titles, a Season Pass Disc will also be available that includes the first episodes and gives players downloadable access to each subsequent episode as they’re released.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Xbox One | Tagged ,

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King’s 3DS debut pushed back to 2017

dragonquestviii-2017

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past will be available for the 3DS in exactly two weeks, but did you know that Nintendo and Square Enix are also toiling away at a brand new version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for the handheld?

Unfortunately, a short blurb during yesterday’s Nintendo Direct presentation confirmed the RPG re-release won’t make its 3DS debut until sometime in 2017.

Previously expected to be available in North America before the end of the year, no reason was given for the delay, but the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King was described by a Nintendo Direct host as “more feature-rich than ever.”

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged

Xbox Store Today: Earthlock Festival of Magic, Assetto Corsa, The Final Station, more

earthlock-header

It’s time for another end-of-the-week update to the Xbox Games Store, and here’s what Microsoft has in store for you…

We start things off with Earthlock: Festival of Magic, a turn-based fantasy RPG for the Xbox One with a Norwegian influence. If that sounds like an interesting combination to you, then you’ll be pleased to learn that Earthlock is also one of this month’s Games With Gold freebies, and you’ll Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be able to pick up for free all this month.

Also available to download today is Assetto Corsa, a racing sim from Kunos for the Xbox One. Keepnig with our international theme, Assetto Corsa has an Italian flavor and features over 90 dream cars, “all rendered to an obsessive level of detail, each with bespoke handling and performance modelling taken from manufacturer’s real-life data and telemetry.”

Finally this week, The Final Station turns onto the Xbox One track from Russia, and it brings with it a train full of refugees trying to survive in a zombie-infested world.

More info on all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in News, Xbox One | Tagged

Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 2 will be released on September 20

batmantelltale-header

Telltale Games has announced that the next episode in Batman: The Telltale Series, Children of Arkham, will be available to download for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 20. The episode will be released for the PS3, Xbox 360, and mobile devices at a later date.

Story details from Episode 2 are still being kept under wraps, but it sounds like The Penguin might complicate Batman’s plan to take down Carmine Falcone:

An old friend becomes a new adversary as Bruce learns more about the Wayne family legacy and Batman escalates the fight against crime and corruption throughout Gotham.

PAX West attendees interested in learning more about the future of Batman: The Telltale Series should head out to a special Crowd Play event at the Wyvern Theatre on Saturday, September 3. Hosted by The Nerdist’s Dan Casey, a noted “Batman Expert,” fans will get the chance to see the worldwide debut of Episode 2: Children of Arkham before anyone else.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged ,

New Zelda Amiibo coming December 2: 8-Bit Link, OoT Link, Wind Waker Link/Zelda 2-Pack

legendofzelda-classicamiibo

While the crazed fervor for Amiibo figures has died down considerably since their 2014 debut, the collectible toys are still quite popular with fans, and Nintendo doesn’t look to be slowing down production on new figures anytime soon.

Earlier this morning, Nintendo announced plans to celebrate The Legend of Zelda‘s 30th anniversary with four new Amiibo figures, all of which will be available on December 2. An NES-inspired “8-Bit Link” figure will certainly get fans talking, and it’ll be joined on store shelves by another Link based on his Ocarina of Time appearance, and a two-pack that includes both Toon Link and Zelda from The Wind Waker.

These Amiibo figures will feature the same functionality as the other Link, Toon Link, and Zelda figures from the Super Smash Bros. series, but they’ll also provide special functionality in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when it launches next year.

The exact specifics of this special functionality will be announced at a later date.

Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U | Tagged , ,

Nintendo Download: Axiom Verge, Zelda Skyward Sword, Picross 3D Round 2, more

axiomverge-header

After looking to NES classics like Metroid and Contra for inspiration, Thomas Happ is finally ready to bring his retro-flavored side-scroller, Axiom Verge, to the Wii U this week. As the first game in Nintendo’s “Nindies Summer Jam” promotion on the eShop, Axiom Verge’s Wii U debut will offer Off-TV Play, Leaderboards, and a Speedrun Mode.

Two other games unveiled by Nintendo during this morning’s Nintendo Direct presentation are also now available to download through the Nintendo eShop. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Link’s only full-length adventure developed exclusively for the Wii, is now available to download through the Wii U eShop. And over on the 3DS, players can chip away at a three-dimensional block puzzle in Picross 3D Round 2.

More information on all of these games (and a huge number of other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, Wii U | Tagged ,

Nintendo will release Super Mario Maker for 3DS on December 2

Super Mario Maker is coming to the 3DS this Fall! Announced during Nintendo’s newest Nintendo Direct presentation this morning, Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS will be available on December 2, and it’ll be nearly identical to its Wii U sibling.

Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS players won’t be able to upload their creations to the Internet, but they will be able to share courses locally with friends through a wireless connection or StreetPass. To make up for this missing feature, Nintendo has added a collaborative level-editing mode for two players to Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS.

In addition to building their own courses, players will also be able to take on 100 Nintendo-designed courses (with added 3DS-exclusive objectives) and download “select” courses from the Wii U version in 100 Mario Challenge.

You can get your first glimpse at Super Mario Maker For Nintendo 3DS by viewing its first trailer, embedded above.

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged