Most Recent: Switch

Baba Is You, Night in the Woods, Getting Over It lead all nominees for the 2018 IGF Awards

Posted on January 3, 2018 by John Scalzo

The organizers of the Independent Games Festival have announced the finalists for this year’s IGF Awards ceremony.

Six games will compete for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize” including Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall), West of Loathing (Asymmetric Publications), Into the Breach (Subset Games), Heat Signature (Suspicious Developments), and Baba Is You (Hempuli).

Baba Is You earned four total nominations, and will also be in the running for “Excellence In Design,” the “Nuovo Award,” and “Best Student Game.” Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy captured two additional nominations (“Excellence In Design” and the “Nuovo Award”), while Night in the Woods was also nominated for two other awards (“Excellence In Visual Art” and “Excellence In Narrative”).

Finally, Cuphead was a big winner at this year’s Game Awards, and the side-scroller is in line for more honors at the IGF Awards including an Honorable Mention for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize,” as well as nominations in the “Excellence In Visual Art” and “Excellence In Audio” categories.

The IGF Awards will be held on March 21 during this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

A complete list of the nominees and honorable mentions for the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards can be found after the break. (more…)

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

PUBG Corp. wants to put PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on “every platform”

Posted on January 2, 2018 by John Scalzo

PUBG Corp. CEO CH Kim has big plans for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The executive recently sat down with Inven Global and said that he wants to bring the battle royale game to “every platform”:

[I]t’s going to be an exclusive title on Xbox One for some time, we’d like to focus on completing the Xbox One PUBG for now. If we have the opportunity, the final goal would be to launch the title on every platform.

Obviously, Kim is referring to the pending PS4 launch of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which is currently on the backburner because of the console’s lack of a “Game Preview” program like the Xbox One. But could Kim’s statement mean that PUBG might one day also make its way to the Nintendo Switch? That would certainly be an interesting outcome.

However, it sounds like PS4 owners might have to wait quite a while before they get the chance to play PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds:

Early Access on Steam and Game Preview on Xbox One are like pre-release, so they don’t have a restriction on quality. However, PS is very strict about this. There were cases where a game took 6 months more to launch even when it was already completed. We are still in the stage of learning the console development environment and console gamers’ taste. We need to think about other platforms after evaluating and completing the Xbox One version first.

Towards the end of the interview, Kim also revealed that his long-range plans for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds include turning it into a “universal media franchise” that encompasses an esports competition, as well as a film adaptation:

I’d like PUBG to become a universal media franchise based on the game. We want to take part in diverse industries including Esports, movies, drama, cartoons, animation, and more. In fact, we received a couple of love calls from a number of developers in Hollywood and Netflix. Our dream is to build a new game-based culture through various ways like this, and have the lead of that culture.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is now available in Version 1.0 for the PC and as [art of the Xbox Game Preview program on the Xbox One

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

Mutant Mudds developer will release “at least” three games for the Switch in 2018

Posted on January 1, 2018 by John Scalzo

Atooi launched the Mutant Mudds Collection (which includes Mutant Mudds Deluxe, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, and Mudd Blocks) for the Switch on December 14, but the developer has even bigger plans for Nintendo’s newest console this year.

Writing on Twitter, founder Jools Watsham has said that Atooi will release “at least” three games for the Switch in 2018:

There’s only 364 days left in the year, so presumably, we’ll learn more about these games soon.

Posted in News, Switch |

Vs. Super Mario Bros., SteamWorld Heist, Style Savvy: Styling Star, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week

Posted on December 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has one more Nintendo eShop update in the works for 2017… and it’s a doozy.

This week, Nintendo and Hamster Corporation have teamed up to bring Vs. Super Mario Bros. to the Switch. This arcade adaptation of Super Mario Bros. provides a slightly different variation on the revolutionary side-scroller, and it’s an historical artifact that all Nintendo completionists should be interested in.

Also available to download for the Switch this week is a pair of side-scrollers that previously appeared on other platforms. SteamWorld Heist is a tactical shooter from Image & Form, and Guns, Gore, and Cannoli is a platformer from Crazy Monkey that mixes mobsters and the undead.

Finally, Nintendo themselves will expand their fashionista simulation series with the release of Style Savvy: Styling Star for the 3DS.

You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, News, Switch | Tagged ,

Nintendo might consider “very different” Joy-Con designs in the future

Posted on December 28, 2017 by John Scalzo

Have you ever wished the Joy-Cons attached to your Nintendo Switch came with a full-fledged D-Pad on the left side? I know I have.

And I’m sure others would love to see a GameCube-style button layout on the right. Or maybe we could replace both sides with a split keyboard design. But let’s not get too carried away, because unfortunately, none of these wild designs are currently in development for the Switch.

However, the General Manager of Nintendo’s Entertainment Planning and Development Division, Shinya Takahashi, recently told IGN that the company might introduce some “very different” Joy-Con designs in the future:

“One of the great strengths of the Nintendo Switch is that though you can play it as a console, you can also separate these two controllers from the hardware. This gives us a lot of possibilities that we could consider for the future in terms of what you could attach,” Takahashi said. “I think that that would be a really good time for us to think about some very different colors or designs applied to [Joy-Cons]. That might be interesting.”

Nintendo’s dedicated fan community has already stepped up and produced some interesting Joy-Con designs, and Takahashi specifically cited this enthusiasm as inspiration for where Nintendo might take the console in the future:

“There’s a lot of joy to be had from handmaking something yourself or having all of those customizable possibilities, and we absolutely embrace that. We love to see that,” he said.

Just one little D-Pad, Nintendo. That’s all I ask.

Posted in News, Switch |

Super Meat Boy will be released for the Switch on January 11

Posted on December 26, 2017 by John Scalzo

The Nintendo Switch has been absolutely flooded with indie classics this year, and Team Meat had planned to bring Super Meat Boy to the console before the end of 2017. However, with New Year’s Day fast approaching, that no longer seems likely.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait very long to play it. The developer has announced they’ll be serving it up on the Nintendo eShop on January 11:

As you can see, the ultra-challenging platformer’s Switch debut will also receive a brand new splitscreen Race Mode that’s playable with two Joy-Con controllers. It’s unknown if this mode will eventually make its way to earlier releases of the game on the PC, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox 360.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged

Nintendo has begun thinking about the next Legend of Zelda game… and it could be Breath of the Wild 2

Posted on December 23, 2017 by John Scalzo

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has begun racking up “Game of the Year” accolades as 2017 comes to a close… but developers at Nintendo are already thinking about the next chapter in the long-running series.

According to Game Informer, an official Breath of the Wild artbook that was recently released in Japan includes confirmation from Producer Eiji Aonuma that work has already begun on the next 3D Zelda adventure.

And earlier this week, Breath of the Wild Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi told IGN that the development team is considering concepts for the next Zelda game. During the interview, Fujibayashi also said that one of the approaches the team is considering is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild:

“I can’t say at this point if it will be in sequels or in continuations, or what form it will take, but I definitely have lots of ideas and lots of motivation right now,” Fujibayashi told IGN.

“I think while we were working on both the main game and the DLC, it was a process of constantly getting lots of different, new ideas as we refined the game, and finding new things we wanted to do,” he added. “Even in situations like this, talking to people and finding out that people gives me a lot of motivation, a lot of ideas for things we could put into the game.”

Knowing Nintendo’s history, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is probably a long shot. But if all goes well, we should learn more about the next Zelda game in a few years… and we might even get to play it a few years after that.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged

Arms’s Version 5.0 update includes a new playable character… Dr. Coyle

Posted on December 22, 2017 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has launched the Version 5.0 update for Arms, and players will now be able to play as a mad scientist named Dr. Coyle. Nintendo’s official website has the lowdown on what players can expect from the good doctor:

As head of ARMS Lab, the good (?) doctor runs the Party Crash program, created Hedlock and Helix, and even experimented on herself! Talk about dedication to her craft.

Dr. Coyle’s special abilities include a spurt of invisibility after guarding, an extra ARM attack that appears after charging, and the ability to punch, dash, and block while levitating in the air.

Also included in this update is her stage called [NAME REDACTED]* and three new ARMS named Lokjaw, Parabola, and Brrchuk.

A trailer for Dr. Coyle has been embedded above.

Posted in News, Switch | Tagged