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It’s raining Bells as Animal Crossing: New Horizons becomes the best-selling game of March 2020
Multiple states attempted to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus pandemic throughout the month of March by shutting down non-essential businesses, and The NPD Group’s recent report (via Twitter) about the month’s best-selling games absolutely reflects this strange new world.
Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons, without the benefit of digital sales (the consolemaker doesn’t supply them to NPD), was the best-selling game of March 2020. According to analyst Mat Piscatella (also via Twitter), it’s impressive debut has already set a new sales record for the franchise, and it trails only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for best first month sales by a Nintendo-published title.
The game also helped sell a lot of people on the Switch, as Nintendo sold more Switch consoles in March of 2020 than they did when the system launched in March of 2017.
With gamers doing their part and staying home, the entire industry surged ahead alongside Tom Nook, Isabelle, K.K. Slider, and the rest of the Animal Crossing crew. Total game sales were up 34% over March 2019 ($739 million vs $550 million), while total hardware sales rose 63% ($461 million vs $282 million).
And Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t the only new release that’s popular with players right now. MLB The Show 20 (#3), Resident Evil 3 (#4), Doom Eternal (#6), and Persona 5 Royal (#7) all debuted in the Top Ten. Looking further down the list, new games such as Nioh 2 (#11), Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (#15), and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered (#20) all snuck into the Top 20.
You can find a complete breakdown of The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from March 2020 after the break. (more…)
HyperParasite is an 80s-set overhead shooter where you play as a body-snatching alien
If cinema has taught us anything, it’s that the body-snatching alien is always the bad guy. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about John Carpenter’s The Thing, Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty, or dozens of other films, the slimy alien must be destroyed.
But what if we’re all wrong? What if this body snatcher is actually just fighting to survive? That’s the premise behind Troglobytes Games’s HyperParasite, an overhead shooter that drops an alien who can jump bodies into a punk-infused version of the 1980s.
In addition to giving the President an eye patch, HyperParasite will feature more than 60 playable characters, as well as a procedurally-generated world spread out over five Acts:
A rogue-lite twin-stick shooter/brawler that never plays the same twice. Collect and control 60 different characters as the body-snatching alien Parasite with a grudge against humanity. Fight to the top of the food chain: possess the President, push the Big Red Button and one-up the human race.
OK, so the Parasite doesn’t exactly sound like a good guy, but it is the star of HyperParasite, which is now available to download for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. And you can sneak a peek at its neon-infused visuals in the brand new Launch Trailer embedded above.
The Last of Us Part II and Iron Man VR have been delayed indefinitely
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II was already hit with a pretty significant delay once before (it was moved from February to May late last year), but now it’s been delayed again.
This time, publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment announced (via Twitter) that the game won’t be available as planned, and no new release date will be announced for the time being because “the global crisis is preventing us from providing the launch experience our players deserve.”
A followup message from Naughty Dog (also posted to Twitter) elaborated somewhat on Sony’s decision, stating that the delay is due to “logistics beyond our control.”
While neither entity is being particularly straightforward, the likeliest explanation is that coronavirus-fueled shipping disruptions and store closures have made it impossible to predict when enough copies of The Last of Us Part II can be delivered to meet the sure-to-be-massive demand.
In the same announcement, Sony confirmed that the slightly-lower-profile Iron Man VR will also miss its previously-announced Launch date of May 15. Like The Last of Us Part II, it too has been delayed indefinitely.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged The Last of Us Part II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered is now available to download for the PS4
Chatter about the looming launch of the heavily-rumored Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered has been steadily making its way around the Internet this past week. Originally released in 2009, Modern Warfare 2 is one of the franchise’s most-celebrated entries, so fans were decidedly excited about the news.
So rather than make them wait any longer, Activision pulled the trigger this morning and announced that Modern Warfare 2 Remastered is now available to download for the PS4. PC and Xbox One owners will get their chance to begin playing the re-release on April 30.
Developed by Beenox, fans can now experience Modern Warfare 2’s Campaign with some very modern graphical upgrades, including support for HDR and up to 4K resolution:
Published by Activision, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered features improved texture resolution and detail, revamped animation, remastered audio, and much more.
In this famed experience, originally developed by Infinity Ward and now re-mastered by Beenox, players enlist as members of Task Force 141 and Tier 1 Operatives in a breathtaking series of missions to save the world from destruction. “Cliffhanger,” “Takedown, “No Russian,” and more all return in this intense story experience.
“Modern Warfare 2 campaign was incredible. We all remember the lasting impression the story left upon us. This campaign was very special and we thank Infinity Ward for creating such an amazing experience,” said Thomas Wilson, the Co-Studio Head at Beenox. “Restoring and remastering this campaign for a new generation of players was a labor of love for our team. We wanted to make sure that the feelings and power of the story was accurately represented with full high-definition visuals and the latest audio fidelity.”
A Launch Trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Minecraft Dungeons will launch a little later than expected on May 26
Mojang has announced (via Twitter) that Minecraft Dungeons will miss its previously-announced April 2020 release date. But fans won’t have to wait too much longer to play it, as the developer later penciled the dungeon-crawler in for a May 26th launch on the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Minecraft Dungeons will be available in a game-only edition ($19.99), as well as a special Hero Edition ($29.99) that includes a few extra in-game goodies (a Hero Cape, two additional Player Skins, a and Chicken Pet). The Hero Edition will also come packed with the Hero Pass, which will give players access to two post-launch expansions when they’re ready.
Fight your way through an all-new action-adventure game, inspired by classic dungeon crawlers and set in the Minecraft universe! Brave the dungeons alone, or team up with friends! Up to four players can battle together through action-packed, treasure-stuffed, wildly varied levels – all in an epic quest to save the villagers and take down the evil Arch-Illager!
Minecraft Dungeons will also be available to download through Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription on both the PC and Xbox One at launch.
Square Enix is working on an “upgraded version” of Nier for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One
Square Enix’s Nier is nearing its tenth anniversary, and the publisher has decided to celebrate by announcing that an “upgraded version” of the action RPG is currently in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
The re-release will be developed by Toylogic and fans will be happy to learn that it won’t stray too far from the franchise’s trademark sense of weirdness, as it’ll officially be known as Nier Replicant Version 1.22474487139… (and yes, the ellipsis is part of the title). Yoko Taro will return to direct the upgrade, and he’ll be joined by producer Yosuke Saito and composer Keiichi Okabe:
Nier Replicant is the prequel of the critically acclaimed success NieR:Automata.
Nier Replicant Version 1.22474487139… invites players into a dark, apocalyptic world as they join a brother’s captivating quest to cure his sister of a deadly disease – a quest which will in turn make them question everything.
Square Enix made some changes to Nier when it was originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010, swapping out the game’s teenage protagonist for an older man and changing the relationship between the two characters at it’s center from brother/sister to father/daughter. But with Nier Replicant Version 1.22474487139…, it looks like we’ll finally get the chance to experience the game as the developers originally intended.
We don’t yet know when Nier Replicant Version 1.22474487139… will be released, but a 2020 launch seems likely.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice wins “Video Game of the Year” at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards
The cancellation of this year’s South By Southwest feels like a distant memory, but in the weeks since the announcement was made, a few people have started to wonder if the winning envelopes from the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards would also remain locked away forever. Thankfully, the festival’s organizers recently fired off a press release that revealed all the winners.
Drumroll, please…
From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won “Video Game of the Year,” and the one-armed ninja also snuck away with a win for “Excellence in Visual Achievement.” Only ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium (the “Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award” and “Excellence in Narrative”) and Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding (“Excellence in Musical Score” and “Excellence in Technical Achievement”) were able to earn more than a single award from this year’s voters.
“Gaming is a key part of the creative ecosystem that brings us together, and now more than ever it provides us with a unique sense of escape and adventure in uncertain times,” said Hugh Forrest, the Chief Programming Officer for South By Southwest. “We were devastated that we weren’t able to celebrate our honorees in person with the cancellation of our event, but glad that we’re still able to share their achievements and creative works with our community.”
A complete list of winners from the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards can be found at Video Game Canon.
Copyright notice seemingly confirms Evil Dead’s Ash will be included in Mortal Kombat 11’s next Kombat Pack
Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up!
Even though Bruce Campbell told the Twitterverse that Ash from The Evil Dead wouldn’t be appearing in Mortal Kombat 11, it appears that NetherRealm Studios has other plans. IGN is reporting that a recent email newsletter from the developer included a copyright notice for Ash in the footer, alongside similar copyright information for The Terminator, The Joker, and Spawn:
You’ll notice that the notice specifically mentions the inclusion of “Ash from Army of Darkness,” so we can look forward to seeing the character in his S-Mart garb while gassing up a chainsaw. However, Campbell’s earlier denial could mean that we’re also looking at a soundalike, similar to how Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t provide the vocal performance for the T-800.
NetherRealm Studios concluded Mortal Kombat 11’s first Kombat Pack earlier this month with the launch of Spawn, and while they’ve hinted at a desire to release more characters, Kombat Pack 2 remains unannounced as of today.
Mortal Kombat 11 is currently available for the PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. I have no doubt we’ll be hearing more about NetherRealm’s future plans for the game very soon.