Most Recent: Switch

New Retail Releases: Team Sonic Racing, More

Posted on May 20, 2019 by John Scalzo

Sonic the Hedgehog is stepping out of his famous red sneakers this week and strapping on a racing helmet in Team Sonic Racing, which will be available for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One (and as a digital download for the PC).

The Blue Blur’s latest automotive aspirations will be joined on store shelves this week by a slew of pair of less-speedy new releases. Sony and Clap Hanz will tee it up in virtual reality in Everybody’s Golf VR for the PS4. And Koei Tecmo will begin writing the next chapter in the Atelier series with the launch of Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland for the PS4 and Switch.

Elsewhere on store shelves, publishers and developers continue to fill out the Switch’s library with seemingly every game ever released. During the next seven days, Ubisoft will bring Assassin’s Creed III Remastered (which contains the original game and the Liberation spinoff) to the Switch, while Capcom will package together a Resident Evil Origins Collection (Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0) for the platform, and 11 Bit Studios will do the same for This War of Mine: Complete Edition.

And speaking of expansions, Bethesda will release The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One (UPDATE: The release of the Elsweyr expansion was delayed to June 4).

Finally this week, Oculus will expand their product line with a pair of standalone VR headsets (the Oculus Quest 64GB and the Oculus Quest 128GB), as well as the PC-powered Oculus Rift S.

You can find even more new releases after the break. (more…)

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Castlevania Anniversary Collection’s Launch Trailer is here to whip your retro gaming memories into shape

Posted on May 16, 2019 by John Scalzo

Konami has released more than 30 titles in the sprawling Castlevania franchise beginning with the Akumajo Dracula in Japan in 1986, and fans will get the chance to relive some of the earliest adventures of the Belmonts (and their allies) in the newly-launched Castlevania Anniversary Collection.

Available to download now for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection includes eight games from the first eight years of the franchise. That lineup includes three games that originally appeared on the NES (1987’s Castlevania, 1988’s Castlevania: Simon’s Quest, and 1990’s Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse), two Game Boy spinoffs (1989’s Castlevania: The Adventure and 1991’s Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge), the first two 16-bit adventures (1991’s Super Castlevania IV and 1994’s Castlevania: Bloodlines), and Kid Dracula, a comedic reworking of the franchise that had never been released outside of Japan until now.

If those titles are stirring up a few nostalgic memories of pixelated vampire hunting, then you’ll definitely want to take a look at Castlevania Anniversary Collection’s Launch Trailer, which has been embedded above.

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection is part of Konami’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. An Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection was released back in April and the publisher will continue their retro rewind with the Contra Anniversary Collection later this Summer.

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Nintendo will add a Story Mode, Mario 3D World Style, co-op play, and a lot more to Super Mario Maker 2

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Thanks to the game’s Announcement Trailer, fans already knew all about the addition of slopes and the Angry Sun to Super Mario Maker 2. But today’s new Nintendo Direct has pulled the red curtain back on even more new features coming to the course building game. The entire is definitely a watch (or a rewatch if you’ve already seen it), but let’s look at some of the highlights…

Nintendo included more than 60 pre-built courses in the original Super Mario Maker, and it looks like they’re increasing that number in the sequel. Super Mario Maker 2 will include a brand new Story Mode that contains more than 100 courses crafted by designers at Nintendo:

In the single-player Story Mode, which can be played entirely offline, Mario sets out to help rebuild Princess Peach’s castle. To fund this reconstruction project, he needs to collect Coins, which he can earn by accepting jobs from the bulletin board and completing the associated courses. Story Mode is a great way for makers to get inspired, with more than 100 original Nintendo-crafted courses to play.

Nintendo is encouraging prospective course creators to use Story Mode as a place to find new ideas for their own creations, and to help with that, they’ve added a number of new Course Parts to the game. Slopes and the Angry Sun are just the beginning as players will get to set ON/OFF Switches, change the Water Level, and more:

What’s New in Super Mario Maker 2

  • Slopes – Create angled surfaces by just picking a direction and setting the length. Gentler slopes are an additional option.
  • Angry Sun – Remember the Angry Sun that attacked Mario in the Super Mario Bros. 3 game? It’s back and ready to put the pressure on players in this new game.
  • ON/OFF Switch – Hit an ON/OFF Switch, and all the red and blue blocks in the course will swap! Setting them up wisely will help players create tricky puzzles and obstacles.
  • Water Level – The water level in Super Mario Maker 2 can be adjusted in the Forest theme, so only half the course can be underwater if that’s what the player wants. Water can even be set to rise and fall at different speeds over time.
  • Banzai Bill – The red variations of these classic Super Mario enemies have a homing function, and chase poor Mario wherever he goes.
  • New Course Themes – In addition to all the course themes from the original game, players will be able to create and play courses using the Desert, Snow, Forest and Sky themes. These themes feature new music by veteran Super Mario series composer Koji Kondo. The new Moon course part can be used to unlock night versions of themes. Depending on the theme used, wild things will happen at night, including floating Goombas, dimmed lighting in the Ghost House and sandstorms in the Desert. Some items might even transform in the nighttime…
  • To Be Continued – There are more secrets in Super Mario Maker 2. Players will have a blast experimenting with all the tools and features they can use to create.

With two Joy-Con controllers, two players will be able to edit a course at the same time, and several new multiplayer modes (including Co-Op and Versus) will give players new options in how to tackle those courses.

Course Styles based on Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U will all return in Super Mario Maker 2, but Nintendo also plans to offer players even more Styles this time around, including one based on Super Mario 3D World. The Super Mario 3D World Style will feature several unique parts that evoke some of the best moments from Mario’s 2013 adventure:

Features Unique to Super Mario 3D World Style

  • Cat Mario – Cat Mario can climb walls, scratch, slide and pounce on enemies. Players can even use Cat Mario to climb up the Goal Pole!
  • Clear Pipe – Clear Pipes can be placed in any shape the player wants, but they have to be careful, as enemies can also slide through them.
  • Koopa Troopa Car – Hop in this sweet ride and zoom through the course. Players just have to make sure not to crash!
  • Track Block – The Track Block will follow any path the player draws. The blue one starts moving when the player steps on it.
  • Piranha Creeper – The Piranha Creeper follows the path that the player draws, extending its dangerous spiky stem around the course.
  • Who’s Who in Super Mario 3D World? – A cast of other familiar faces will also make appearances in Super Mario Maker 2, so players are in for a treat!

At least one more Extra Style will be included in Super Mario Maker 2, which is scheduled to launch on June 28.

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Ubisoft has three unannounced games coming in Early 2020 but they’ve delayed Skull and Bones yet again

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Is Ubisoft hard at work on Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 7? Nobody’s entirely sure, but the publisher has confirmed that they’ve got three unannounced “AAA” games in the hopper, all set to launch sometime between January 1 and March 31 in 2020.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot spoke a bit about these games, calling them “very distinct gaming experiences,” during the company’s most recent quarterly financial report:

We are coming with three very distinct gaming experiences. We wanted to give those games the development they needed because we know they’re long-term sellers, so it’s important that they come with the best opportunity.

We won’t say anything more today. You’ll know more soon.

Sadly, the publisher also said that players hoping to sail the high seas in Skull and Bones will have to wait a bit longer. The pirate-themed multiplayer was penciled in to launch this year, but now it won’t be released until sometime after April 1, 2020. This is the second major delay for the game (it was originally scheduled to be out in 2018), but the development team provided a short update via Twitter, promising that “[their] focus remains on quality”:

Skull and Bones will not be on display during Ubisoft’s presentation at E3 2019, but presumably the three unannounced games will be.

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Konami will add Japanese variants to Castlevania Anniversary Collection in a free update after launch

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Konami will make the Castlevania Anniversary Collection available to download for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One beginning tomorrow, May 16, for $19.99. The compilation will include the North American versions of eight games from the early days of the franchise, as well as The History of Castlevania: Book of the Crescent Moon, a behind-the-scenes look at the franchise in an ebook-styled format.

The publisher famously released different variants of their games in each region during the NES era, and they typically offered different difficulty options (Japanese gamers often got an easier version to play) and graphical styles. Though sometimes the changes were made to comply with Nintendo’s discomfort for religious imagery and references at the time.

Fans hoping to test out these different versions with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection were originally out of luck, but Konami has apparently had a change of heart. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Brand Manager Benjamin Kinney said that these Japanese will be available in a free update “shortly after launch”:

Lastly, important news: we heard your calls and Konami will add Japanese title variants as a free update shortly after launch. Keep your eyes peeled for more details!

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection will include Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania: The Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, Castlevania: Bloodlines, and the never-before-released-in-the-US Kid Dracula. It’s currently unknown which games in the compilation will receive Japanese variants in the future.

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Take-Two executives discuss big sales for GTA5 and Red Dead 2 while looking ahead to 2019 lineup

Posted on May 14, 2019 by John Scalzo

Take-Two Interactive delivered another celebratory quarterly financial report last night as the publisher’s latest releases have proven very popular with players.

Leading the charge is Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. More than 24 million copies of the game have been shipped to stores since its launch last October. Take-Two executives also revealed that they’ve shipped more than nine million copies of NBA 2K19 in a similar timeframe.

But the most surprising reveal from yesterday’s report might be the news that Take-Two shipped more than ten million copies of Grand Theft Auto V during the quarter, bringing its lifetime total to 110 million copies after six years on the market.

While the company was happy with their retail performance in 2018, they’re also looking ahead to 2019 with gusto.

According to CEO Strauss Zelnick, 2K Games has already committed to launching NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20 this Fall:

Also this Fall, 2K will launch new installments of our highly successful annual sports franchises with the releases of NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20. As always, the development teams behind these games are hard at work to deliver our trademark array of exciting new features and innovations that keep players coming back year after year. 2K will have more to share about these titles in the coming months.

Zelnick later confirmed that Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds and Patrice Desilets’s Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime this year through their Private Division label:

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the Outer Worlds marks the reunion of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the original creators of Fallout, who are introducing an entirely new single player sci-fi RPG experience. The Outer Worlds will be showcased behind closed doors at E3 to select media and influencers, and more details about the game will be revealed over time. Last month, Private Division hosted press events for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, where attendees got to play the game and meet its creators at Panache Digital Games, including the studio’s co-founder, Patrice Desilets, who was the original creative director of Assassin’s Creed.

More information about Take-Two Interactive’s full lineup for 2019 (including the previously-announced Borderlands 3) will be announced at this year’s E3 Expo in June.

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Big Block DLC adds a single-player Practice Mode and Marathon to Tetris 99; 3rd Maximus Cup scheduled for May 17-20

Posted on May 10, 2019 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has pushed out a big new update for Tetris 99 that finally gives players the option to play offline… but it’ll add a cost to the otherwise free-to-play game.

The Big Block DLC Pass has been priced at $9.99, and it includes a single-player Marathon Mode, as well as a CPU Battle Mode that gives players the chance to practice against the computer before venturing online against live competition. The Pass will also include access to a mysterious third mode that will be released sometime before the end of the year.

Tetris 99’s signature online battle royale will remain free-to-play with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

Nintendo also announced that Tetris 99’s third Maximus Cup will kick off on Friday, May 17. The competition will begin at 3:00 AM (Eastern Time) and continue until Monday, May 20, at 3:00 AM (Eastern Time). The third Maximus Cup will be another “Point Stacking Challenge,” and the consolemaker will award points to players who finish a match anywhere in the Top 80:

Points Table for Tetris 99 3rd Maximus Cup
1st Place: 100
2nd Place: 50
3rd Place: 30
4th-10th Place: 20
11th–30th Place: 10
31st–50th Place: 5
51st–80th Place: 2

In celebration of Tetris‘s 35th anniversary, players who collect at least 100 points will unlock a Theme that reskins Tetris 99 to more closely resemble the original Game Boy game.

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Donkey Kong Jr, Vs Excitebike, Clu Clu Land coming to Switch’s NES app on May 15

Posted on May 8, 2019 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has announced this month’s trio of new additions to their Nintendo Entertainment System app and they are Donkey Kong Jr, Vs Excitebike, and Clu Clu Land.

Donkey Kong Jr is the sequel to Nintendo’s first big hit and it actually casts Mario as the villain for the first (and possibly only) time in his career. Meanwhile, Clu Clu Land is an underwater puzzle game that was originally available at the NES’s launch all the way back in 1985. And Vs Excitebike is a multiplayer variant to the popular racing that was originally released in 1988… but at the time it was only available in Japan.

Here’s what Nintendo has to say about all three titles:

Donkey Kong Jr. – Based on the popular arcade game, Donkey Kong Jr. is the sequel to the immensely successful Donkey Kong game. Play as Donkey Kong’s son, and rescue your dad who has been kidnapped and imprisoned in a cage by Mario. Use jumping and climbing abilities to clamber up vines and chains, gather vital fruit and keys, and open the cage to free your father. Make sure you avoid the pesky birds, nasty electric sparks and creepy chompers. Four different worlds filled with numerous climbing and jumping puzzles await you in this timeless classic.

Vs Excitebike – Fans love the Excitebike game for its frenetic races, high stakes, and sweet jumps. With this game, you can take it to the next level with the Famicom disk version of Vs Excitebike – complete with two-player split screen. Create tracks from 20 classic Excitebike track parts, and go for a best time or take on friends. Racing is even more exciting when the rivalries are real. You can also try out the single-player mode in Vs Excitebike. It adds tracks, music, and the ability to save your high score.

Clu Clu Land – The greedy Sea Urchins have stolen all of Clu Clu Land’s gold bars and buried them in a series of mazes. As Bubbles, a brave bubble fish, you’ll set out to uncover all of the gold bars in each maze. With 20 stages to complete and increasingly complex conditions (like having to pass over the gold bars twice to uncover them), you might just want to bring along a friend for help.

Donkey Kong Jr, Clu Clu Land, and Vs Excitebike will be available to download for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers on May 15.

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