After the last seven days, it looks like the old and ostensibly Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” has been visited upon us. Times are certainly… interesting right now, to put it lightly.
For those with a penchant for video games, it’s really the Nintendo Switch that has kept things interesting, as previews have been rolling out from last week’s presentation and more details have been revealed.
In the News This Week
- The Joy-Con Grip bundled with the Switch does not charge the Joy-Con
- Nintendo Switch won’t feature StreetPass or Miiverse
- And we learned a lot about the Switch UI and system capabilities
Such as that game saves will always be saved to the built in 32GB memory and not the microSDXC card, that Nintendo are investigating external HDD support, that you can edit screenshot captures, and that Miis are no longer going to be an essential part of system set up. - Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Direct included:
- Codemasters bring back Micro Machines with World Series out in April
- Nioh having third and final ‘Last Chance’ trail this weekend
Definitely check this out if you like Dark Souls and Bloodborne! - Apple App Store pricing rises 25% in the UK
But is this corporate greed, as many instantly assume, or just the fact that the Pound has dropped drastically in value compared to the relative stability it’s held since 2009? - Windows 10 Creators Update will add a Game Mode for PC gamers
- Portal Designer Kim Swift joins EA’s Star Wars team
- Overwatch celebrates the Chinese New Year
Speaking of interesting times… get a super cute new Mei costume! - Trump in VR
*Shudder*
Games in Review
January’s actually been a pretty good month for PlayStation 4 owners and those with a leaning toward Japanese games. This week saw the release of Gravity Rush 2, for one thing, while Miguel has been busy with both major releases like Yakuzo 0 and quirkier localisations.
- Yakuza 0 – PS4 – 8/10
- The Flame and the Flood Complete Edition – PS4, XBO, PC, Mac, Linux – 8/10
- 2064: Read Only Memories – PS4, PS Vita, PC – 7/10
- Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea – PS Vita – 7/10
- Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star – PS4, PS Vita – 6/10
- Logitech G533 – PC accessory – no score
This Week’s Features
It’s also been a good week for looking to the future, with a bunch of Switch previews. We went hands on with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the solid follow up Splatoon 2, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remaster, 1-2-Switch’s imaginative multiplayer gaming, and the indie co-op gem Snipperclips – Cut it out, together!
Beyond that, we had a number of preview, video preview and interview trios. The first of these came with Nioh, which we wrote about, interviewed Game Director Yosuke Hayashi, and made this preview video:
Then came Halo Wars 2, which returns to the hit console strategy game after over half a decade. We spoke to Al Hope, the game’s Creative Director, and made the following preview video.
And thirdly, there was Sniper Elite 4, with Karl Fairburne returning to spearhead and prepare the path for the invasion of Italy. Again, we spoke to Rebellion’s Tim Jones and Paul Wright, and made the following video about the game’s much broader scope.
Aran spoke about how ominous Sony’s closure of Guerrilla Cambridge is for the PlayStation VR’s future, and we round things off with What We Played, which featured Halo Wars 2, Resident Evil 7 and the Wii U!
Trailer Park
After all those videos above, let’s keep things short and sweet in Trailer Park!
Experience Call of Cthulu’s Depths of Madness
Watch 21 Minutes of Ghost Recon Wildlands Single Player
Halo Wars 2 in Real Life – Who Will Survive?
This would be infinitely better with The Chuckle Brothers…
Your Achievements
Crazy Del gets us underway in the achievements section with the platinum trophy for Mafia III, and he’s just a shade away from the Lego Indiana Jones 2 platinum as well. DividSmythe’s also been enjoying the Lego, with the platinum trophy for Lego Marvel’s Avengers, as well as the brilliantly bizarre Jazzpunk.
Though he was playing on easy difficulty, Tony CÂ should still be given a round of applause for fighting off the alien occupation force in XCOM 2. He thoroughly enjoyed it, but even on the lowest difficulty found it to be a stern tactical challenge. He’s since dabbled with a bit of Star Wars Battlefront, but ron_mcphatty’s been all in, finally managing to grab the very challenging Ackbar’s Elite trophy!
Pixel_nme has been enjoying his usual array of co-op games, but his big achievement this week was completing and getting the platinum for Gravity Rush Remastered, just in time for the sequel that released yesterday in the UK.
Last but by no means least, MrYd made it all the way through Deus Ex: Mankind Divided without killing a single person. Good job, that man!
The Week Ahead
Next week is a pretty busy one, depending on the kind of games you like:
- The Turing Test – PS4, XBO, PC – 23/01 (PS4)
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – PS4 (and PSVR), XBO, Windows – 24/01
- Yakuza 0 – PS4 – 24/01
- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue – PS4 – 24/01
- Memoranda – Win, Mac, Linux – 25/01
- Tales of Berseria – PS4, Windows – 27/01
- Subterrain – PS4, XBO, PC – 27/01
- Digimon World: Next Order – PS4, PSVita – 27/01
Enjoy your weekends, and we’ll see you next time!
