Tag: Launch

22 Indie Games Are Launching On Xbox Game Pass

by Chay Madison, posted in Indie, Videos

Microsoft pulled out all the stops during their E3 2019 Press Conference showcasing a total of 60 games.

Twenty-two of those games are indie titles, all of which will be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

A handful of the games really stood out to me. Which? Well, Blair Witch, Blazing Chrome, Riverbond, Star Renegades and AfterParty which I covered a while back here on Nitchigamer.

The full list can be found below:

ID@XBOX Games Shown at E3 2019

  • Dead Static Drive
  • Star Renegades
  • Afterparty
  • Way to the Woods
  • Creature in the Well
  • Killer Queen Black
  • Undermine
  • Pathologic 2
  • Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game
  • The Good Life
  • Blazing Chrome
  • Spiritfarer
  • TABS: Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
  • Secret Neighbor
  • Supermarket Shriek
  • Blair Witch
  • Unto the End
  • Night Call
  • Riverbond
  • Felix the Reaper
  • Ikenfell
  • Totem Teller

It is important to note that both Riverbond and Supermarket Shriek are available on Game Pass right now! The other titles are set to release later this year.

As a Game Pass subscriber, I will add more than a few of these to my library. I hope you do too!

Next up, of course, is Nintendo’s E3 Direct. We’re hoping to see some rather unique games on show there.

Nintendo Switch Selling Faster Than The Wii

by Matt Parker, posted in Nintendo, Videos

It’s not been surprising to see the Nintendo Switch atop the hardware charts lately. It’s a new system that’s competing against consoles that are relatively old and suffer from fragmented fan bases thanks to the PS4 Pro, Xbox Scorpio and the many versions of the 3DS/2DS that exist.

What did cause me some surprise and prompted me to write a news post was this report from Gamestop via PVPLive. The fact that Switch sales are doing 10% better than Wii sales were at the same period after their launches.

Sure, we’ve all seen posts about ‘Better launch weekends’ before, but I paid them no mind as launch weekend figures can be skewed by all sorts of marketing and manufacturing issues. We all know that ‘most’ consoles ‘sell out’ on their launch but what we often don’t know is if this is down to a huge demand or an extreme lack of supply.

With the initial rush out-of-the-way, the Switch has earned some impressive sales figures and the fact it’s selling faster than the Wii is pretty staggering – especially when you consider the fact that most people who don’t play games haven’t even heard of the Switch.

I’ve experienced this first-hand when talking about what I’m up to these days. My friends know I play video games and out of sheer politeness, they’ll enquire about my hobbies. I mention that I’m looking forward to eventually getting my hands on a Switch when I can and they look at me blankly.

Polygon even reported that the Switch is actually struggling to obtain brand recognition with ‘non-gamers’, with polls showing that only 7% of respondents who identify as ‘non-gamers’ have even heard of the console.

We all know the Wii had huge success in large part thanks to the chord it struck with ‘non-gamers’, so it’s amazing to see the Switch doing so well on the back of its popularity with ‘actual’ video game fans.

The fact the console launched with not just a Zelda game but what many people are calling the best Zelda game ever is no doubt a factor in its success with core gamers.