Gaming
Here’s everything that happened in the September Nintendo Direct
For those not in the know, the September Nintendo Direct happened last night, with lots of shiny new Ninty information jam-packed into 45 minutes.
While there was no mention of Animal Crossing (which will disappoint a lot of people on Twitter I expect), there was a lot of new stuff to get excited over. We’ve summarised them all below for your pleasure.
Nintendo Switch stuff
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 finally has a release date
And that date is December 1st, 2017! With gameplay that appears to follow closely to Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 offers detailed cutscenes, improved voice acting, and stunning visuals, even if it doesn’t appear to be on a new engine.
With multiple Titans to traverse and each Titan having unique scenery, we got a look at the exploration and combat present in the new game. The game will have a special edition at launch that includes artbook, steelcase and soundtrack. A special Xenoblade Pro Controller will also be available.
DOOM and Wolfenstein 2: New Colossus on Switch!
Okay so this was definitely a surprise. While everyone knew Skyrim was coming to Switch, no-one expected both Doom and Wolfenstein II. There are no solid release dates yet but if you’re after an FPS fix on Ninty’s new console, Bethesda has got your back.
Super Mario Odyssey is gonna be huge
The main focus of the evening was obviously Super Mario Odyssey. We saw a lot more gameplay and graphically, this is probably the best looking Mario game ever made. We were introduced to Crazy Capp, a store that allows you to obtain new outfits for Mario and online leaderboards for mini-game scores and time attack modes.
There were also glimpses of wedding-themed Mario Amiibo, if that’s what you’re into.
Project Octopath Traveller
Another welcome surprise is Project Octopath Traveller, a brand new RPG from Square Enix and a Nintendo Switch exclusive. With a mix of turn-based play and new mechanics called ‘The Boost System’, it features 8 playable protagonists with differing origins, strategies, and goals. From the producers of Bravely Default, it features a mix of CGI and pixel-art to create a unique art style.
A demo is available right now so check it out if you’re pining for more RPG action on the Switch.
Dragon Quest Builders
A mashup of Minecraft and Terraria but wearing Dragon Quest clothes. Dragon Quest Builders allows you to rebuild and defend towns in the DQ world, featuring gameplay similar to Minecraft.
Kirby Star Allies
This was shown at E3 and gets a bit more love here. The first Kirby game for Nintendo Switch sees players going on an adventure with up to 3 other allies, mixing abilities to create new powers and going up against a dark force that’s taking over Dreamland.
L.A Noire
With all DLC, special suits with abilities, Joy-Con compatibility and a usable touchscreen, LA Noire is the full package. A welcome return to the Nintendo fold by Rockstar. Now, where’s Red Dead Redemption?
Nintendo Arcade Games on Switch
All the fun of the arcade without your nan getting angry at the coin pusher. Arcade Archives are bringing some classic Nintendo arcade games to the Switch including the original Mario Bros. We’ll also see Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, Pinball and Clu Clu Land.
Arena of Valor
One of the more interesting surprises of the Direct event, this is a League of Legends style MOBA for Switch. With up to 30 controllable heroes, you can go head to head in 5v5, 3v3 and 1v1 PVP battles. A free beta is launching this Winter.
Skyrim
It’s Skyrim. It’s portable. It won’t have mod support but it will have a Breath of the Wild outfit. You can be a Stealth Archer.
Splatoon 2 Updates (now with added Kelp Dome)
Nintendo showed off a number of updates to Splatoon 2, including new stage Snapper Canal, a new weapon in the Tenta Brella and the return of fan favourite, the Kelp Dome. Kelp Dome returns this Friday, 9/15.
Rocket League Switch
No solid release date for this yet but we did get a glimpse of some new Nintendo themed vehicles. Mario and Luigi also made an appearance.
Fifa 18 / NBA 2k18 / WWE 2k18
Not much to report on here, just a reminder they’re happening. FIFA 18 will be fully built from the ground up, designed for Switch rather than a direct port and releases September 29. NBA 2K18 is a similar experience to it’s console counterparts, feature complete but running at 30fps rather than 60fps. It releases September 15. No release date for WWE 2K18 unfortunately.
Nintendo 3DS/2DS Stuff
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (available November 17)
The stream kicked off with a bunch of 3DS information, including games and hardware. As you’d expect, the two new Pokémon titles were a big focus. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will include a bunch of new areas, clothing items and Ultra Beasts as well as a new way of choosing starters. Most importantly, there were whispers of a Pikachu farm which sounds lovely. It’ll also include a new story involving Necrozma, a legendary Pokémon that steals light and has transformed Solgaleo and Lunala from the original games.
Metroid Samus Returns (available September 15)
Samus is back. Metroid Samus Returns features new weapons, abilities and bosses, all in a remastered version of Metroid II which released 16 years ago. It’s joined by a snazzy limited edition 3DS which you can see here.
New 2DS designs!
To coincide with the new Pokemon games, Nintendo are releasing the Poke-Ball edition of the New Nintendo 2DS XL which lands November 3rd. To coincide with (presumably) Fall, they’re also releasing an Orange and White New Nintendo 2DS XL.
Kirby: Battle Royale (available January 19 2018)
So this is the “3DS Kirby” that no-one knew about. Featuring a single-player story mode, online battles, and a battle arena mode, the game sees Kirby using a variety of abilities to fight versions of himself with the last Kirby standing being crowned the winner. No confirmation of pans or Kirby finding a Kar98k in a Supply Crate just yet.
Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition (available… right now)
Minecraft continues its quest to be available on every single electronic device available. With five skin packs, 2 texture packs, survival and adventure mode, it’s a surprise but it’s also really not. Look out for Minecraft on your toaster soon.
Mario Party Top 100 on 3DS (available November 10)
For the first time ever, a collection of the best Mario Party games can be played on a hand-held. Featuring the top 100 mini-games from the console series, Mario Party Top 100 supports Download Play. This up to four players can take part as long as one of the players owns the game card, which is pretty great.
Atlus releasing multiple games in 2018
The other big piece of news for the 3DS is Atlus is set to release Etrian Odyssey V, SMT Strange Journey Redux and Radian Historia Perfect Chronology in 2018. There’s not much information to go off but it’s great news for Atlus fans in the West.
As you can see, despite this Nintendo Direct being 45 minutes long it was absolutely jam-packed. This is just a selection of what was shown and you can see the full livestream below.
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.
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.
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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