Consoles
The Nvidia Shield Finally Comes to China, Complete with Nintendo Games
My biggest gripe with Nintendo is it restricts its games to Nintendo consoles, not counting free to play mobile games. The company used to be a little more open and allowed developers to create officially licensed games with Nintendo characters for non-Nintendo platforms (Mario Teaches Typing comes to mind), but then Philips ruined it for everyone with its terrible CD-i Mario and Legend of Zelda games. However, Nintendo seems to be warming up to the possibility of playing a Mario game on something other than a Nintendo Switch — or iPhone — as the company has made a deal to port multiple Nintendo games to the Nvidia Shield. In China.
Yesterday, industry analyst Daniel Ahmed tweeted that the Nvidia Shield, a microconsole that can stream television shows and PC games to a television, is finally coming to China for the low price of RMB 1499 (approximately $226.45). This would be good news on its own, but the kicker that gamers can play Nintendo Wii games (priced at 68 RMB, or $10.27) on the Shield turns the device into a must-have for families all over China.
According to Ahmed, this is not a case of a Chinese company taking advantage of Chinese copyright laws and releasing something that would violate a copyright in any other country (China has a bit of a problem when it comes to plagiarism, from the Chintendo Vii to a show whose best translation is the word salad known as Animal that King Kong). No, Nintendo actually partnered with Nvidia and the Chinese company iQiyi to bring Nintendo games over to the Chinese Nvidia Shield. At launch, Chinese gamers can expect Punch-Out!!, New Super Mario Bros Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Super Mario Galaxy, all running in HD at 1080p, with more games to come, possibly including the fantastic Metroid Prime Trilogy. Of course, this raises the question how these games, designed for the waggle-tastic Wii Remote, play on a console with a standard, non-motion controlled controller. However, since Nintendo games were placed on the Nvidia Shield to, as Ahmend puts it, “strengthen the position of [Nintendo, Nvidia, and iQiyi] in gaming segment in China,” one would expect Nintendo to bring its A game and make the ports as smooth as possible, but only time will tell if these are good or bad ports
Here is some gameplay of Twilight Princess running on Nvidia Shield.
It is said to be running in HD (Not sure what that means exactly in terms of the port).
Wii games on Shield will cost RMB 68. pic.twitter.com/M84WfV9eWE
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 5, 2017
While these ports are exclusive to the Chinese Nvidia Shield, they could very well determine the future of Nintendo’s release plans. If this business venture is successful, we might soon see Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Metroid games on the PC (it’s a bit of a stretch to think they will ever be available on the Xbox One or PlayStation 4…yet). Nintendo is clearly loosening the iron grip it used to hold onto its intellectual properties just several years ago (just look at Kellogg’s Super Mario Cereal), and the “Nintendovidia Shield” could serve as the impetus for Nintendo to finally try its hand at modern PC gaming.
Consoles
Despite popular belief, PS4 sales in the UK skyrocketed last year
PS4 sales in the UK climbed by a shocking 633 percent year-over-year in 2023, so apparently the old system isn’t dead yet. The previous year’s very limited supply of the system is likely a major factor in this figure, since the console’s lifespan was drastically reduced because of chip shortages caused by the pandemic. Still, it’s proof that PlayStation’s original platform has unmet demand.
With the very low prices of PS4 software (both in-store and online at the PS Store), this strategy makes a lot of sense. Plus, it’s future-proof, so there’s no harm in stocking up on PS4s while new-gen pricing is still high, since if you decide to switch to a PS5 in the future, you can transfer all of your purchases across. Not to mention that the majority of new releases still come out on the PS4, with several offering free PS5 upgrades.
While the percentage rise may seem huge, real PS4 sales will probably be much lower. It’s a sign that the gadget, which is now a decade old, isn’t completely dead yet, and we expect it to keep receiving maintenance for a while longer. Of course, this is great news for Sony, because the company would rather have PS4 players playing on its last-gen gadget than none at all, even if it would love to have them upgrade to PS5.
Consoles
New PS5 firmware is available for download!
A PS5 firmware update on a cold winter morning is unmatched. The latest PS5 system software update is 23.02–08.40.00 from Sony. Does this one add useful features or just boost system performance?
Though closer to the latter, it’s more than Sony’s favorite patch note. It fixes security issues, improves messages and usability, and boosts system software performance. Official patch notes for this 1.185GB update:
- We updated system software security
- We improved system software stability and performance
- Some screens now have better messages and usability
That’s it. PS5 gets another win to recover from its midweek slump. Do you share our enthusiasm for this firmware update? Comment below. To spice things up, make your comment rhyme.
Consoles
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Version Will Help PS5
Belgian developer Larian Studios’ work on Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Series S version will improve performance on all platforms, including PS5. The game’s fifth major patch, expected to launch this week, will include upgrades and new features. More details will be revealed later today.
Director of Publishing Michael Douse says PS5 performance improvements may be the “least exciting thing” in the title’s next update, so it sounds like a big one. Larian Studios employees are proud of “finally” implementing tweaks, fixes, and changes, Douse says. Later today, we’ll bring you all the Baldur’s Gate 3 update details.
Those who reached the RPG’s third act have reported technical issues during the narrative’s conclusion, especially in co-op, so today’s update should fix them. New features like a permadeath mode are expected, along with Xbox Series S optimization fixes. What else should be added to the game?
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