Category: Nintendo

Want to see L.A. Noire in 4K?

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Slightly underrated gem L.A. Noire can now be seen in 4K… If you go full screen on a 4K enabled monitor, that is.

What Are You Doing Phelps!?

The snazzy new trailer shows detective Cole Phelps and his rise through the LAPD ranks as he investigates a string of crimes in 1947 Los Angeles. Everything, as should be expected, looks better than ever.

L.A. Noire is out for the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 14th. A VR edition will also be available for the HTC Vive called L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files – it features seven select cases rebuilt for VR. Hopefully, the VR version will make its way over to PS VR too.

Super Mario Odyssey review

Super Mario Odyssey review round-up – can it beat Breath of the Wild?

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Super Mario Odyssey is released tomorrow on Switch and the reviews are coming in thick and fast. The general consensus: Mario’s latest adventure is another audacious masterpiece.

Super Mario Odyssey – The Scores So Far:

While we don’t believe that Metacritic should always be taken as an absolute, it’s worth noting that Odyssey is currently sitting at 97 on the site – the same score Breath of the Wild ended on.

One thing is for sure though, Nintendo has made a spectacular resurgence this year. What a year for games…

GameCube Switch Games

GameCube controllers now work with the Nintendo Switch – Virtual Console on its way?

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

The Switch was recently updated to firmware version 4.0, which added, among other things, video capture functionality. It’s a slick addition for those that want to capture their best gaming moments – much like the PS4 offers.

However, what Nintendo didn’t reveal to us is that your old GameCube controllers (remember those fine things?) will now work with the Switch as well.

GameCube Games + Switch = Fun

What’s the central piece of equipment required to get them working exactly? The GameCube controller USB adaptor for the Wii U that was released in time for Super Smash Bros 4, of course.

It’s worth mentioning that other USB controllers do not work, at all, meaning Nintendo has enabled the old Cube controllers for a very specific reason. You can see the newly released Fire Emblem Warriors for Switch working with a GameCube controller in the video below. The nostalgia is strong.

Our guess would be that the long-awaited Virtual Console coming to the Switch will launch with a bang alongside classic GameCube titles.

Having the ability to play games such as Luigi’s Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Smash Bros. Melee in your hands would be an enticing way to kick-start the new service. We’d say the chance of that happening is pretty high too, but you can (probably) expect news from Nintendo on such a feature next year – at the earliest.

The world has a new Tetris champion

by PJ Moon, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Competitors from all over the world converged on Portland, Oregon over the weekend to compete in the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). The competition lasted for two days until Sunday when only one man remained.

Classic Tetris World Championship

It was Jonas Neubauer, of Redondo Beach, California, who remained undefeated and was awarded the title of “World Champion of Tetris”. Hardly a stranger to competitive Tetris, Jonas Neubauer’s Portland win marks his seventh win in the CTWC.

In the eight years since the CTWC began, Neubauer has won seven of the championships. The only other competitor to win the CTWC was 2014 world champion of Tetris, Harry Hong. Despite Neubauer winning the majority of CTWC competitions, Hong has placed within the top five in each CTWC competition up to 2017 and is the first documented player to reach the highest possible score of 999,999 points in a single Tetris game.

The CTWC was inspired by the 1990 Nintendo World Championships competition where competitors played modified versions of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. Like in the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, CTWC competitors play Tetris by means of an original Nintendo Entertainment System using classic NES controllers.

1990 Nintendo World Championships

The Portland Oregon Gaming Expo has hosted the CTWC since 2012 but the CTWC format has been adopted in Tetris competitions abroad. Do you fancy yourself a champion of Tetris?

Wait, you do? Well go and test your might by seeking out an annual Tetris championship competition being hosted near you. You may even come out on top.

Shin Megami Tensei 5

Shin Megami Tensei 5 confirmed for Switch

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Shin Megami Tensei 5 has been confirmed to be in development for the Nintendo Switch.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 – Steal thy heart

The project was first teased at the Switch’s major presentation way back on January 13th, although we knew next to nothing other than it was a Shin Megami Tensei game. Now we know for sure.

The short trailer below made the announcement official:

The series celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, so the timing makes sense. No release date was given, unfortunately, and details are still scarce. However, we’d expect some more news on this one early next year. Oh and no, sorry, it’s not Persona 5.

EA shuts down Visceral Games

by Matt Parker, posted in Nintendo, Posts

In a move that will only surprise people that haven’t heard of Electronic Arts before, EA has shuttered yet another studio. What is surprising is that the studio in question is Visceral Games. Visceral were hard at work on an eagerly awaited Star Wars game, with Amy Hennig spearheading development.

This was exciting because it was believed to be the re-birth of Star Wars 1313, which looked amazing but was binned once LucasArts ceased to be an actual developer and simply turned into a licensing operation. It was also exciting because Amy Hennig was one the major leaders of the Uncharted series. It was meant to be so perfect. Alas, it was simply not meant to be at all.

Takeaways:

  • Visceral Games were most well known for the Dead Space series.
  • This is the latest developer that EA has closed down. EA is infamous for doing this and have a section of their Wikipedia page dedicated to studios they’ve shuttered.
  • Amy Hennig was brought onboard to direct Visceral’s ‘Uncharted-like’ Star Wars game. Her future with EA remains up in the air.
  • This looks like EA is moving away from single-player story-driven games in a big way. The game itself is not ‘dead’ but instead, development will ‘pivot’ to be multiplayer focused.
  • We have no idea who’s making this Star Wars game now. Good luck to them though.

The game itself hasn’t been cancelled but has instead seen the design take a ‘pivot’. An EA spokesperson said:

“It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.”

So there it is. EA close down another studio, the ‘marketplace’ has decided that single-player games don’t make enough money and this Star Wars game, which started off as the hotly anticipated Star Wars 1313, now looks like a poisoned chalice.

All the best to those at Visceral affected. Dead Space was dope.

Source: Polygon

Conviction: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney gets a new story trailer on 3DS

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Objection! Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is coming to your 3DS next month. It’s out on November 21st in North America and November 23rd in Europe via the Nintendo eShop for a decent $19.99.

Where’s Phoenix?

To celebrate, Capcom has released a new story trailer that shows Apollo Justice taking over from Phoenix Wright in the courtroom.

The fourth game in Capcom’s beloved lawyering series, it’s up to Apollo and Trucy Wright, (Phoenix’s adopted daughter), to find out exactly why the renowned lawyer is now a mysterious pianist/poker player instead. You probably “couldn’t handle the truth” reader.

Improvements for the 3DS edition include crisper graphics, the ability to quickly skip text even if you haven’t read it before, and the choice between English and Japanese versions of the game, which also localises the game’s art.

Two raving heads trump one – Mario + Rabbids adds co-op with premium DLC

by Tom Buxton, posted in Nintendo, Posts

As with their widely praised fantasy RPG The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild earlier this year, Nintendo isn’t skimping on post-launch content for their similarly acclaimed – and surprisingly complex – puzzle platformer, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle.

Players who Koopa-shelled out $20 for the universe-colliding adventure’s season pass last month will doubtless have wondered since what they’re getting for this princely sum of hard-earned cash; well, they’ve now got their (first) answer…

Takeaways:

  • Cue the Ultra Challenge Pack, a DLC pack out now which features five original maps to wage Raving Rabbid-induced war upon in an array of co-op challenges.
  • The missions awaiting players and pals are sure to be just as eclectic as Mario + Rabbids’ explosively whimsical main campaign, with the line-up of adversaries for the eponymous plumber and crazed animals to outwit including Chain Chomps, Tornados, Boos and Pyroclasts.
  • For those seeking an even greater trial than these initial tag-team offerings, though, eight Ultra Hard challenges will additionally crop up as part of the secret chapter hidden within each of the Switch exclusive’s diverse world hubs.
  • As Season Pass owners would expect, all of this won’t set them back a penny, although those who’ve yet to pick up said Pass can still access the pack for $7 too.

One can hardly blame Nintendo for wanting to push this ambitious expansion out of the gate sooner rather than later, since their main mascot’s other highly anticipated epic, Super Mario Odyssey, will no doubt come to dominate the headlines come its release at month’s end.

Hopefully, the DLC won’t find itself too lost amidst the marketing maelstrom, since titles championing co-op play in a market laden with 20v20 competitive multiplayer modes should be truly welcome, especially to old-school gamers who spent half their childhoods blasting through Halo’s legendary modes with mates. (Not that we’d know, obviously.)

Stay tuned to D-pad Joy for all the latest news on Mario + Rabbids’ upcoming DLC, Ultra or otherwise.

Castlevania album

Meet Thrashlevania, the headbanging Castlevania album you need this Halloween

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

The new album Thrashlevania is Castlevania headbanging basically. It’s Castlevania done loud and fast, timed to arranger Louie Aronowitz’s 15-minute speedruns of the original game on the NES. Once again it’s from music publisher Materia Collective. Yes, those guys.

Thrashlevania: Fast and Furious

Aronowitz himself is a performer and musician who has been featured in the Tribeca Film Festival, The New York TV Festival, on Nickelodeon, and more.

Here’s what he had to say about Thrashlevania:

The biggest and most ambitious aspect of this record is that it’s timed to how I play through the game. I speedrun Castlevania in about 15 minutes, and wanted to organize the record in such a way as to press play and just leave it running while I go through it. It also has possibly the most difficult guitar parts I’ve ever played… maybe.

We dare say that completing the game in under 15 minutes is an achievement in itself:

The original Castlevania soundtrack was created by Kinuyo Yamashita, her debut work no less – it’s a legendary soundtrack that includes fan-favourites such as Vampire Killer, Wicked Child and Heart of Fire.

Experience some furious metal this Halloween and give Thrashlevania a listen for yourself here.

Dracula always had good taste in music, after all. Roll on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night…

eSports + University = Honours degree?

by PJ Moon, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Competitive gaming can finally be justified by a university honours degree in eSports, but students hoping to learn how to more efficiently frag their foes in Overwatch may be disappointed.

Better ways to play competitive games?

Beginning in September 2018, Staffordshire University will be offering the UK’s first eSports degree program. The honours degree program is more aimed at teaching students the business side of eSports than it is teaching students better ways to play competitive games.

The teaching focuses on:

“… how to host small and large scale events for single player and multi-player teams, create business plans to develop teams, create online communities and promote your events through digital marketing.”

However, the eSports program is not all business and numbers. Students will also benefit from opportunities to “explore the culture of eSports”. Hopefully, this cultural exploration includes exploring firsthand the ins and outs of various characters’ combos in Street Fighter V.

Staffordshire University has even reached out to the eSport industry for help in designing and planning an appropriate course study track for prospective students. Such collaborators include Fast Web Media, Ukie, Codemasters, the British eSports Association, and the National University eSports League (NUEL).

Both Staffordshire University and the collaborating eSports organizations are optimistic about the program and feel that eSports are set to become both an important and profitable industry.

The Vice Chair of the British eSports Association had this to say regarding the future of eSports as an industry:

“Staffordshire University’s decision to establish an eSports course is visionary and far sighted. eSports is one of the fastest growing entertainment mediums in the world, and anything that can help the UK establish itself as a centre for this exciting industry should be celebrated.”

The opportunity for student work placement has also been offered by Red Bull’s new London eSports studio.

Staffordshire University is hosting an event on the 22nd October, 11 am – 6 pm for those curious about their eSports degree program.

What do you think about the whole phenomenon?

Sony published game making its way to Nintendo Switch and PC

by Matt Parker, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Whilst the headline seems simple enough, it does take some explaining. Sony is a huge corporation and is made up of many companies. One of the companies that make up Sony as a whole is Sony Music Entertainment. Now we have Sony Music Entertainment branching out by creating a new label called ‘Unties’. Still with me?

Unties seems focused on publishing and promoting small indie titles. Their mission statement includes this little snippet:

With the growth of game development environments, high quality game development has become possible even in small scale environments, and the evolution of digital publishing has made it easier to distribute developed titles to users worldwide. On the other hand, with a mixed bag of titles overflowing the market, there are also situations where interesting titles are buried without being noticed.

So far so good. Where it gets interesting is that one of Unties four confirmed games is a turn-based action game called Tiny Metal. It’s going to be available on PS4, PC, Mac and Switch.

Takeaways:
  • Unties is a game publisher owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Sony Music Entertainment is owned by Sony. Sony Interactive Entertainment (the PlayStation people) are also owned by Sony. Obviously.
  • Unties have confirmed four titles that they’ll be publishing. All are small indie titles.
  • One of the titles, called Tiny Metal, will be launching on the Nintendo Switch.

Weird, right? I know it’s a little long-winded but the link is there. Sony is involved in the publishing of a title which will be available on the Nintendo Switch. Sure the average consumer will see a logo for a company called Unties, but we’ll know the truth!

Super Mario Odyssey

Live-action music video released for Super Mario Odyssey – Jump Up, Super Star!

by Nitchigamer, posted in Nintendo, Posts

Nintendo has released a live-action music video for the upcoming and highly anticipated Super Mario Odyssey on Switch.

Super Mario Odyssey. Ya see?

The new music video features our favourite plumber joyfully bopping around in New Donk City to “Jump Up, Super Star!”, Odyssey’s catchy main theme.

He’s accompanied by other athletic dancers busting their moves in the middle of the street… (as you do). Former damsel-in-distress, and Mario’s old flame Pauline makes an appearance as well.

Nintendo is clearly ramping up their marketing in one final push before the game’s release on the 27th October.

And it looks like they have a lot to feel good about too, with the first review from UK video game magazine Edge bestowing [amazon_textlink asin=’B01MUA0D2A’ text=’Super Mario Odyssey’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’geali01-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’39ddec4a-b0f9-11e7-9ec5-b1d8c9b8033d’] a rare, perfect score.