Gaming - Page 755

Ubisoft and Nintendo have finally officially announced the remastered edition of Assassin's Creed III for the Nintendo Switch after the absolute flop of leaks the past couple of weeks.

If you haven't been following the build up of the remastered edition of Assassin's Creed III for the Nintendo Switch, here is a quick re-cap of what has happened. At the end of January 28th, we saw that multiple European retailers listed on their websites "Assassin's Creed III Remastered" for the Nintendo Switch. Then yesterday, Ubisoft officially announced the remastered edition for Assassin's Creed III for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but didn't mention anything about a Nintendo Switch version.

Ubisoft must of forgotten to take the listing off their website, as fans captured images of Assassin's Creed III supposedly coming to the Switch, yet there was still no official announcement from either Ubisoft or Nintendo. Now, both Ubisoft and Nintendo have officially announced the Switch version and a listing for the title has appeared on the Nintendo website revealing details. Within the entirety of this post, I have provided the details of the Switch edition. Assassin's Creed III remastered will be coming to the Nintendo Switch on May 21st, 2019.

The Nintendo Direct which has just finished has showcased to fans that Rune Factory 4 and Rune Factory 5 will be soon coming to the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo have decided to re-master the classic 2013 Nintendo 3DS title and bring it to the Nintendo Switch. Players will be able to farm crops, wield weapons, spells, slay monsters, go fishing, interact with townsfolk, cook food and even raise your own monsters. The game is a RPG and as a surprise to old players returning to the game, Nintendo will be adding new features such as the ability to be able to fall in love with characters and eventually marry them.

Within the announcement of Rune Factory 4 Special, Nintendo also gave a sneak peak at Rune Factory 5 saying that the title is currently under development. No other details were released regarding Rune Factory 5, but Nintendo did say to "stay tuned" for future information that is going to be released. Rune Factory 4 Special will be arriving on the Nintendo Switch in the later half of 2019.

Nintendo Switch owners will soon be able to take their creativity to new heights as Nintendo have announced that Super Mario Maker 2 will be arriving on the Switch this June.

Back in 2015, Nintendo debuted 'Super Mario Maker' onto the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. The game was hijacked by platforming masterminds as numerous madness filled levels were created creating almost impossible challenges for veterans and also just some pure fun for casual players.

Now Nintendo have announced a sequel for game to debut to the Nintendo Switch, coming under the title of Super Mario Maker 2 the game will offer some brand new features in the form of enemies, level creation, obstacles and much more. Revealed in the recently passed Nintendo Direct, players that are keen to get to some new level creation will be able to do so sometime through June of 2019. As more details are released for the title I will be sure to follow up with another article.

The Nintendo Switch themed Nintendo Direct has revealed a critically acclaimed title that will soon be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Prepare your eyes and ears when 'Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice' arrives on the hand-held console this Spring.

If you aren't really sure what Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is, the title was created by developers Ninja Theory and follows the story of Celtic warrior Senua. Senua begins her quest to save her dead lovers soul by journeying to hell and battling not only physical manifestations of demons and demonic creatures but her own mind as well.

Ninja Theory created Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice alongside neuroscientists that specialize in psychosis traits, those traits have been implemented into the game to create a truly chilling experience as you follow Senua to the depth of hell. Having played Hellblade I can say that the awards the title earned such as audio and artistic achievement are more than deserved. The game provided an experience like no other for me, the voices you hear as a player truly do create an eerie and almost psychotic experience. Simply put, the closer Senua gets to hell, the more the player, and Senua will be lost in madness. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will be arriving on Nintendo Switch in Spring 2019.

Nintendo have just finished their first Nintendo Direct of 2019 and within the live stream the Big N have teased an update scheduled to be arriving for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this Spring.

Throughout the planned Nintendo Direct that just finished, Nintendo have teased Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans with the coming 'version 3.0' update that is planned for this Spring. The contents of the update were not disclosed to fans as Nintendo said that fans "will have to wait to find out".

What was also teased throughout the small Smash Bros. Ultimate segment was the reminder that the new DLC fighter 'Joker' from Persona 5 is on his way. Nintendo remind fans that 'Joker' is apart of Challenger Pack 1 and that he has secretly been preparing for battle against the rest of the Smash Bros roster. Nintendo also reveal that 'Joker' will be added to the roster "before the end of April". If you were to add two and two together, I believe that 'Joker' will be arriving within the version 3.0 update that will debut sometime throughout April. As more information is released, I will be sure to update you.

Activision earned over $7 billion in revenue in 2018, but it actually expected to earn more. Now it's cutting its workforce by 8% to "reduce duplication" and provide more money to fund game development.

Note: This coverage does not aim to diminish the human cost affected by Activision's firing spree, but to bring more perspective on the business decisions behind it. Our sympathies go out to those affected by the mass layoffs.

Activision-Blizzard's decision to fire nearly 800 employees has caused a stir in the industry, especially since the company just had a record year in 2018. The gaming titan pulled in over $7.5 billion in net revenues in 2018, beating its guidance by $145 million and outpacing 2017's earnings by almost 7%. But company CEO Bobby Kotick says these earnings didn't "realize our full potential." But why? These numbers are driven by Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's massive success, continuing Blizzard engagement, and Candy Crush cash--all of which are wrapped up in billion-dollar monetization (digital once again earned 77% of revenues). The decision really comes down to how much Activision-Blizzard is spending altogether.

In the recent Fiscal Year Q3'18 earnings call, Sony execs outline some of the possible disruptors that could threaten the dedicated core console gaming business.

The industry is growing and major trends could ultimately disrupt the traditional console market. Sony still mostly operates in the old template of using quality games to sell hardware while using services as a means to buffer revenues, whereas Microsoft has built up a future-proof empire of online services and uses games to buffer its earnings instead. Now the company aims to match its Xbox competitor as the threat of cloud gaming and free-to-play looms over full game sales.

The real worry for Sony is that these nascent technologies could eventually phase consoles out. Gamers would instead play on mobile devices like phones or the Switch. This is ultimately irrational as consoles will always be a conduit for home gaming, but Sony President of Mobile Communications Hiroki Totoki still sees F2P and cloud streaming as potential threats (even though Sony has a cloud-streaming service called PlayStation Now).

Nintendo is remastering Link's Awakening, one of the most popular Zelda adventures.

In a surprise move, Nintendo today announced a Link's Awakening revamp release as part of its Switch-centric Direct showcase. The game features an absolutely adorable 3D visual style that reminds me of Pikmin, and sports all the mechanics we know and love from Zelda games (sword slashing, blocking, top-down movement schemes, etc). The graphics alone make the game accessible and appealing to all ages, and kids today will get to experience that old-school adventure we played more than 25 years ago on Game Boy.

Rather than re-release the Game Boy classic on its eShop as a retro game, Nintendo opted to just remaster it and sell it for an upcharge with enhanced visuals, mechanics, and more (also remember the Switch doesn't have a Virtual Console presence). Link's Awakening on Nintendo Switch is due out in 2019. I expect to see it sometime before Nintendo's big holiday rush when its Pokemon mainline sequel rolls out, so possibly in April or June ahead of E3 2019.

Sony exec Jim Ryan will lead the PlayStation brand in 2019 and beyond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment will kick off its Fiscal Year 2019 timeline with a management shake up. Starting April 1, 2019, current SIE President John Kodera will step down and Jim Ryan will take over his position. Kodera will become SIE's Deputy President and focus exclusively on expanding PlayStation online services like PS Plus, PS Now, and various entertainment subscriptions. Sony affirms online content remains its biggest opportunity for growth amid the massive 91.6 million PS4 install base.

So what does this actually mean? Basically Sony is doubling-down on improving its lucrative billion-dollar services in a bid to remain competitive. Companies like Microsoft and EA are working on game streaming services and have strongly invested in engagement-driven online services, but Sony has a huge advantage: the PS4's install base. We should see vast improvements and incentives to PS Plus, PlayStation Network, PS Now and even new updated subscriptions as time goes by. Cross-play will absolutely be a part of this game-plan, as will an expansion of offered content.

BioWare hasn't changed their minds about Mass Effect, and the team has plenty of ideas of where it can go with future games. But don't expect to see a sequel or spin-off any time soon.

Following the widely-criticized Mass Effect: Andromeda, it seemed the sci-fi IP was put in cryosleep. And it kind of was; the bulk of BioWare had been working on its big new live service IP called Anthem, which represents the biggest thing the team had ever made. BioWare still holds their ambitious space opera near and dear to their hearts, though, and even teased a new secret Mass Effect project is in development.

Now in a recent interview with Polygon, BioWare reaffirms their position on Mass Effect. The series isn't dead...it's just not at the forefront of BioWare's plans right now.

The release of the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy seems to have done surprisingly well according to the recently released sales statistics from its publisher Activision.

Before we jump into the exact sales of the title, here is a little bit of background on it. Back in 2017, Activision decided to bring back everyones favorite orange marsupial, the one and only Crash Banicoot. Titled the 'Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy' gamers had the pleasure of picking the three-game collection, the titles that were includes are; Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

The game was released onto the Xbox One, PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, and according to Activisions recently released Q4 2018 sales statistics the N.Sane Trilogy managed to sell more than 10 million units. This sales figure represents the sales across all platforms from 2017, which includes the later release of the N.Sane Trilogy on the Xbox One, PC and Switch on June 29th.

The release of Shonen Jump's 'JUMP FORCE' is almost upon us, and to increase hype as much as possible the games official launch trailer has been released.

The launch trailer has been released onto the official Bandai Namco YouTube Channel and showcases all the most iconic characters from Shonen Jump going head-to-head against each other. Each of the fighters seen throughout the launch trailer come from the following anime shows; JoJo, My Hero Academia, Naruto, One Piece, Kenshin, Saint Seiya, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, Black Cover, Bleach, Boruto, City Hunter, Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, Fist of the North Star and Hunter x Hunter.

JUMP FORCE comes in with 42 playable characters at launch and has a further nine more characters to arrive via DLC in the future. JUMP FORCE will be coming to the Xbox One, PS4 and PC on February 15th. For more information regarding the upcoming title, visit the official JUMP FORCE website here.

The date has finally been set as Nintendo have officially announced that they will be holding the first of 2019's Nintendo Direct's on February 13th.

The announcement comes from the official Nintendo of America Twitter account and teases that throughout the live stream we will get some more details on the highly anticipated Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Many Switch owners have been patientially waiting for this Nintendo Direct as this is when Nintendo will be detailing the 2019 line-up of games to arrive on the handheld console.

The live stream will last for 35 minutes and showcase to Switch owners what they can expect throughout 2019. If I was to take some guesses at what Nintendo are going to show off throughout this live stream, I would say that we are going to see some footage from Yoshi's Crafted World, the new Animal Crossing, Mortal Kombat 11, Luigi's Mansion 3 and perhaps even Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. I would also expect that closer to the end of the live stream we will get a tease of the next DLC fighter to arrive in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The livestream will be held on Wednesday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET / 22:00 BST. If you would like a link to the live stream, click here.

Sony attempted to battle Nintendo on the front of re-hashing their old consoles in a smaller and cheaper unit, it seems that isn't going so well for the Japanese dominator of the console market.

Back at the end of last year we reported on that retailers were already dropping the price of the PlayStation Classic due to its lackluster sales. The Classic console begin its journey on the market with a price tag of $99.99, that price was soon brought down to just $60 from retailers such as BestBuy, Walmart and Amazon. Some of the main contributing reasons to the abysmal sales of the PlayStation Classic is it's poor performance and disappointing list of games.

While $60 sounds pretty damn good for a Classic console that comes with 20 games, that price just got better as Amazon and Walmart have marked the console down to just $40. Despite the consoles poor performance, $40 sounds like a much better deal on what was once a console that retailers were charging $99 for. I have provided the full list of games that are available on the PlayStation Classic within the entirety of this article.

The Division 2 enjoyed its private beta over the weekend, but now that is over and Ubisoft is looking to the next part of its pre-release hype building with the announcement of a new open beta for The Division 2.

The upcoming open beta for The Division 2 will start on March 1, with Ubisoft promising that "more details will be released soon". We should expect most of the same things that the private beta had, which saw two main missions, five side missions, a single Dark Zone, and some of the end game content. The two main missions saw you exploring and battling around the Grand Washington Hotel and Jefferson Trade Center.

The Division 2's upcoming open beta will begin on March 1 and shut up shop on March 4, with the full game hitting the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on March 15.

RAGE 2 is only a couple of months away and while we have Metro Exodus right around the corner, Bethesda thought it was a good time to show off its upcoming RAGE 2 pre-beta gameplay and it looks good, really good.

Bethesda is working directly with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios on RAGE 2, with the game being built on Avalanche's in-house Apex Engine, changing off of the id Tech engine that the first RAGE was made on. RAGE 2 is an open-world game with a bunch of driving and insane action, so the Apex Engine feels - and looks like it's a better fit for RAGE 2.

Avalanche might be working on RAGE 2 but that doesn't mean id Software is sitting on its hands with its baby, with Bethesda getting the developers at id Software to help out making the game by providing their expertise in tight gunplay and how the game is connected to the franchise.

Epic made quite the splash with its own Epic Game Store in the last couple of weeks pulling Metro Exodus away from the Steam Store, but the problem is that Epic's own Game Store is lacking in features to its competitors.

One of those problems has been fixed with the Epic Games Store now rocking an offline mode, something the developer lets gamers "skip sign in" when their internet connection is down. This means you can still play games instead of requiring an internet connection that could be down for multiple hours, leaving your gaming in a stand still, all while your games are locked away. It's not perfect as you can toggle it on or off, you simply get the option for skipping sign in if your internet is down.

It's good to see Epic making these changes, but I hope they continue to flow into the Games Store. We can't just let all of these other companies releasing their own game launcher without the features we know and love from platforms like Steam. This is a good move for Epic as offline gaming is an important part of not wanting to piss off your customers.

Activision-Blizzard announced today that it is culling 800 of its workforce, representing roughly 8% of all employees, and now we find out that developer Blizzard won't have any 'frontline releases' the 2019 fiscal year.

Collister "Coddy" Johnson, president of Activision-Blizzard explained: "We expect materially lower financial performance this year. 2018 benefited from the release of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, whereas we are not planning a major frontline release for 2019".

While we might not see full fledged AAA games in the form of Diablo 4, Overwatch 2 or a major expansion for World of Warcraft - it does means we could see a smaller release. This would be something that's not a "frontline release" and could end up as Diablo: Immortal, the controversial mobile-focused title in the franchise, or World of Warcraft Classic.

Following today's unfortunate news of nearly 800 employees being fired, Activision teases this year's big Call of Duty shooter.

Infinity Ward is developing 2019's Call of Duty game. Many fans speculate it'll be Modern Warfare 4 and return to a more grounded, story-focused experience after Black Ops 4's departure from singleplayer. Now Activision reveals a few snippets of info in its latest CYQ4'18 earnings call, including a confirmation of an actual campaign mode.

"This Fall's launch is going to resonate very powerfully with our community. It is an amazing game, it'll feature an entirely new campaign, a huge and expansive multiplayer world, and fun co-op gameplay," Activision COO Coddy Johnson said in the call.

Activision-Blizzard plans to eliminate 8% of its staff, or roughly 800 employees so it can reserve more money for games development.

The publisher duo behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft is trading jobs for more R&D cash so it can re-invest heavily in wholly-owned franchises. The company aims to become more lean by trimming away non-game development positions across all segments. Everything from customer service, PR, publishing and Q&A will be affected by the re-organization. Company CEO Bobby Kotick also confirms that certain games that "don't meet our expectations" will be de-prioritized over time (games like Heroes of the Storm have already been affected). Destiny was likely see as an underperforming title, too.

This new strategy is timely and not coincidental to major development plans that are underway. Blizzard is currently developing a bunch of new games like a new Diablo IV mainline sequel, a new Diablo mobile game, and perhaps even Overwatch 2. This game slate, which multiple Blizzard execs say is the biggest in its entire history, will also include fresh new IPs.