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Nintendo Direct May 31st – A Quick Briefing

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So another Nintendo Direct has come to an end. There didn’t seem to be as much excitement surrounding it, though. Probably because it was Japan-only and was aired only a couple of weeks before E3, so there wasn’t going to be much in the way of bombshell surprises. If you chose to skip it, I don’t blame you but there was still quite a bit announced so here’s a quick and basic rundown of the more important reveals from this month’s Direct.

1. Dragon Quest VIII Remake for 3DS

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Originally released on the PS2, the eighth main title in the Drgaon Quest series of RPGs was the first title to release in Europe and Australia. Its success might have helped bring subsequent titles (including all those remakes of previous games) to the PAL region, and now it too will receive the remake treatment on the 3DS. Players take control of a motley crew of heroes on a journey to save their kingdom and lift the curse on both its King and Princess. Fans of turn-based RPGs better keep their eyes peeled for this one.

2. Create a town in new Fire Emblem

Anybody who loves the Fire Emblem series are probably not just fans of the strategy RPG genre. Fire Emblem has always been about the bonds the player develops with the cast of characters at his/her command; that’s why there’s such a heavy emphasis on characterisation and interacting with said characters. That’s why a lot of people will probably be very happy with the announcement of a new feature of the next entry: making your own towns.

Not only that, but you will be able to use StreetPass to visit other player’s towns and fight in their party. What benefit you gain from this is unknown at the moment but this sounds like a great way of implementing Fire Emblem’s own brand of multiplayer.

It was also confirmed that the Fire Emblem amiibos (Marth, Ike, Robin and Lucina) will be compatible with the game. Judging by the footage shown, you can summon the respective characters to fight against, though it looks like they will be rather challenging.

3. Chibi Robo is back

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in 2006, Nintendo released a quaint, little title on the GameCube called Chibi Robo. It had players take control of the titular character, whose job it was to do good deeds for the family of the home he was living in, in order to accumulate Happy Points, all the while making sure he didn’t run out of battery as he moved around the house. Those who played it loved it, but Chibi Robo fell into obscurity; its sequel wasn’t even released in Europe.

Now, to our surprise, the tiny robot is back, but in a very different kind of game. Chibi Robo will now star in a more action-orientated game; a side-scrolling 3DS platformer that will have Chibi Robo using his plug as a whip to defeat enemies, destroy blocks and solve puzzles. It even functions as a grappling hook. What’s more, there will also be a Chibi Robo amiibo. Fingers crossed this makes it to the West.

4. Mario & Sonic head to Rio

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Mario and Sonic will be crossing paths at the Olympics once again; this time at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. As the fifth game in the series, you probably already know what to expect from this: more minigame-style events designed for anyone to pick up and play.

The last game in the series, which was set at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, was very underwhelming, only being released for the Wii U, sporting forced implementation of the GamePad and very few events to take part in. This title, which will be released for both Wii U and 3DS, will hopefully be a vast improvement. A short trailer revealed quite a few events including football, table tennis and golf, as well as some new playable characters like Nabbit and Rouge the Bat. With a wide variety of events, interesting and fun modes and plenty of fan service, this could have the potential of being the best entry yet.

5. Monster Hunter X

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Capcom has decided to skip the numbering stuff and go straight to adding an X at the end of the title because, as we all know, the X makes it sound cool.

In all seriousness, Capcom will be bringing another Monster Hunter to the 3DS, promising new moves, new areas and, of course, new monsters to slay. Capcom has also stated that the concept for the game is to take the action and make it varied enough so that anyone can find their own style of play. There will also be other villages from previous Monster Hunter games to visit.

Aside from that, Capcom also revealed that Monster Hunter spin-off Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village DX (which originally came out on the PSP in 2010 as Japan-only) will be coming to the 3DS and would see players take control of the series’ feylene cat characters, going on quests and managing their village.

While Nintendo is obviously saving the big guns for E3, there was still some interesting stuff here, including a few things I left out due to lack of information (and my inability to understand Japanese) including trailers for a new Dr. Mario and the next Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game. If you want to see the whole direct, check it out here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUxgnYVD_-Q

Michael is a graduate from Brunel University, where he studied Computer Games Design and Creative Writing. He denies claims that he did it just to give him an excuse to play videogames. He usually has something to say on the latest news in gaming, film and TV, even if no one wants to hear it.

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Ubisoft says that future Assassin’s Creed games will need more time to be made

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As Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to sneak up on people in November, Ubisoft says that the time between developing games needs to be longer to find the “right balance.” Shadows has been in development for four years, longer than any other game in the series up to this point. That includes the huge open-world epics Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) says that the latest AC game took 25% longer to make than Valhalla. He says this is necessary to keep the quality of the series that it is known for: “It’s always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate.” You can speed up a project by adding more people to it, but that doesn’t give you more time to make changes.

Onnée says this has as much to do with immersion and aesthetics as it does with fixing bugs and smoothing out pixels. This is because the development team needs time to learn about each new historical setting: “We are trying to make a game that is as real as possible.” We’re proud of it, and the process took a long time. In feudal Japan, building a house is very different from building a house in France or England in the Middle Ages. As an artist, you need to learn where to put things in a feudal Japanese home. For example, food might not belong there. Get all the information you need and learn it. That process takes a long time.”

You’ll have to wait a little longer for Ubisoft to work on each game. Are you okay with that? In what part of Shadows are you now? Is it interesting to you? Leave a comment below and let us know.

 

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You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on PS5

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You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster that Dragami Games and Capcom both created. You can now pre-order the PS5 game on the PS Store for $44.99 or £39.99. If you have PS Plus, you can get an extra 10% off the price.

The company put out a new trailer with about three minutes of gameplay to mark the start of the pre-order period. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s crazy action game from 2012. You play as Juliet, a high school student who fights off waves of zombies.

The remaster adds RePOP mode, an alternative mode that swaps out the blood and gore for fun visual effects. It also adds a bunch of other features and improvements that make the game better overall. You can expect the graphics and sound to be better as well.

The game will now come out on September 12, 2024, instead of September 12, 2024. Are you excited to get back to this? Please cheer us on in the section below.

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This Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 zombies trailer is way too expensive

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Is there really anyone who is following the story of Call of Duty’s zombie mode? We’ve known about the story in a vague way for a while, but we couldn’t tell you anything about it. It looks like the “Dark Aether” story will continue in Black Ops 6, but we don’t really know what that means.

For those of you who care, here is the official blurb with some background: “Requiem, led by the CIA, finally closed the last-dimensional portal, sending its inhabitants back to the nightmare world known as the Dark Aether, after two years of fighting zombie outbreaks around the world during the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War timeline.”

Wait, there’s more! “Agent Samantha Maxis gave her life to seal this weird dimension from the inside out.” Even worse things were to come: senior staff members of Requiem were arrested without a reason by the Project Director, who turned out to be Edward Richtofen.

Black Ops 6 will take place about five years later, and it looks like it will show more about Richtofen’s goals and motivations. The most important thing is that you will probably be shooting an unimaginable number of zombies in the head. This week, on August 8, there will be a full reveal of the gameplay, so keep an eye out for that.

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