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Super Mario Maker 2 builds its way to the top of June 2019’s list of best-selling games
It was only available on store shelves for a handful days during the month, but Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker 2 has been crowned the best-selling game of June 2019 by The NPD Group.
According to the analyst firm’s rankings (as posted by NPD’s Mat Piscatella on Twitter), Super Mario Maker 2 fended off a challenge by fellow new release Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled (which took the #2 spot) to come out on top, as well as surging sales from Mortal Kombat 11 (#3), Grand Theft Auto V (#4), and Minecraft (#5). No other new release managed to break into the Top 20, but more mainstays filled out the rest of the list, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (#6), Mario Kart 8 (#9), Red Dead Redemption 2 (#12), and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#13).
However, without a robust new release slate, overall sales for the gaming industry dropped slightly in June 2019 versus a year ago. According to NPD, total sales of hardware, software, and accessories reached $959 million last month, a 13% decline from June 2018.
Unsurprisingly, the Switch was the best-selling hardware platform last month, and that’s unlikely to change throughout the year as the launch of the Switch Lite approaches and as gamers continue to save their pennies for the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett.
You can find a full list of best-selling games from June 2019 after the break. (more…)
Doom: Annihilation will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 1
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has announced they’ll release Doom: Annihilation on Blu-ray and DVD on October 1… just in time for the spooky season.
Doom: Annihilation is a Direct-To-Video reboot for the film franchise, and it won’t have any connection to 2005’s Doom (which, believe it or not, starred The Rock before he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world). Nor is it based on id Software’s excellent Doom 2016 or it’s upcoming sequel, Doom Eternal. However, it is rated R (for “bloody violence and language throughout”), and it has portals to Hell, a bunch of nasty demons, and a platoon of space marines to serve as gory cannon fodder:
Based on the popular original video game, Doom: Annihilation is an explosive, terrifying thrill ride. On the darkest moon of Mars, scientists have found an ancient portal which allows teleportation throughout the universe. Considered to be mankind’s greatest discovery, it’s actually a gateway from Hell, unleashing a swarm of demons looking to steal the souls of everyone who gets in their way. It’s up to Lieutenant Joan Dark and an elite unit of Marines to destroy an ever-growing horde of bloodsucking and soul-stealing beasts and prevent them from taking over planet Earth.
Doom: Annihilation probably won’t be a cinematic masterpiece, but there’s surely worse ways to fill time on a dreary October day.
Tetris Effect will be released for PC on July 23
Enhance has announced plans to bring their psychedelic puzzle experience, Tetris Effect, to the PC later this month.
With its wide array of pulsating colors and shimmering lights, Tetris Effect is easily the most visually-impressive version of Tetris ever. On the PC, players will be able to play through the game with an unlocked resolution and uncapped framerate, or they can strap on a VR headset (specifically an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive) and optionally experience the game in virtual reality:
As the ultimate version of Tetris Effect, the PC version is capable of running at resolutions of 4K or more, with an uncapped framerate (if Vsync is disabled), and includes ultra-wide monitor support as well as other expanded game and graphical options for both 2D and VR play (including adjustable particle volume and size, texture filtering, and more) not found in the PlayStation 4 console release.
Music, backgrounds, sounds, special effects—everything, down to the Tetriminos themselves, pulse, dance, shimmer, and explode in perfect sync with how you’re playing, making any of the game’s 30+ stages and 10+ modes something you’ll want to experience over and over again.
Originally released for the PS4 last Fall, Tetris Effect will be available to download for the PC platform exclusively through the Epic Games Store on July 23. A trailer for Tetris Effect’s PC debut (featuring an eye-popping amount of “Best of” awards) has been embedded above.
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Tetris Effect
Activision will reveal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s “Multiplayer Universe” on August 1
Activision and Infinity Ward have announced that fans will get their first glimpse at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s brand new “Multiplayer Universe” on August 1. Fans are encouraged to tune in to Call of Duty’s official Twitch channel for the full reveal:
As players enlist in the heart-racing Modern Warfare story, multiplayer continues the experience as players head online into the ultimate playground for the global balance of power. Featuring unified progression across modes, Modern Warfare seeks to unite the community with plans to support cross-play across platforms and the removal of the traditional season pass in order to deliver a greater mix of more free maps, content, and community events post-launch.
In the meantime, the publisher has unveiled one piece of Modern Warfare’s new online muliplayer experience, the 2v2 Gunfight Mode, on their Activision Games Blog. Gunfight is a made scramble that features 40-second rounds which take place on a series of “custom-made [and] confined” maps. A duo is victorious after securing six wins, and Activision has described the mode as very similar to “a fighting game with armaments and set in the Call of Duty universe.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 25.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Blazing Chrome’s Launch Trailer includes one last blast of the game’s Contra-inspired visuals
The Arcade Crew and JoyMasher have finally put all the finishing touches on Blazing Chrome, and the two companies launched the side-scrolling shooter for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One earlier today. They also delivered a retro-tastic Launch Trailer for the game, which was inspired by Contra and Metal Slug, that includes a very era-appropriate live-action intro:
The Arcade Crew has released a fittingly retro gameplay trailer celebrating humanity’s uprising to properly introduce the resistance’s two leading warriors; Marva, a resilient soldier who’s here to chew bubblegum while kicking ass, and Doyle, a robot who’s had a deadly change of heart.
With a varied arsenal of distinctive weapons, badass pilotable mechs and vehicles, and unlockable characters to help curb the AI army’s ruthless oppression, Blazing Chrome plays the way you remember classic action games feeling. JoyMasher’s modern refinements to that satisfying shoot-em-up playstyle will make scrapping hordes of mechanized foes and skyscraper-sized bosses feel as comfortable as getting back on that hoverbike you haven’t rode in years.
Blazing Chrome is now available to download, but it’ll also be available this Fall as a physical release from Limited Run Games for the PS4 and Switch.
Nintendo will launch handheld-only Switch Lite on September 20
Analysts and fans alike have been waiting for a handheld-focused “Switch Mini” (and the death of the 3DS) ever since the launch of Nintendo’s newest console back in 2017. With the 3DS being put out to pasture earlier this year, Nintendo finally made good on the other half of that equation with the announcement of the Switch Lite.
Set to be released on September 20, the Switch Lite will be available in stores for $199.99 in three different colors (Yellow, Turquoise, and Gray). To reach this lower price, Nintendo crafted the Switch Lite as a system that can only be played in Handheld Mode. It features integrated controls, a smaller 5.5″ touchscreen, no HD Rumble, and no support for the Switch Dock.
Nintendo also managed to make some improvements to the platform with the Switch Lite. The handheld will be lighter (just 10 ounces) and with a better battery life (up to seven hours, according to Nintendo). By ditching the Joy-Cons, Nintendo was also able to add a real D-Pad to the left side of the Switch Lite. That said, if you’ve got a pair of Joy-Cons lying around, the Switch Lite will be compatible with the two-fisted controllers for games that can be played in Tabletop Mode (but beware, the Switch Lite won’t have a kickstand).
“Adding Nintendo Switch Lite to the lineup gives gamers more color and price point options,” said Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser. “Now consumers can choose the system that best suits how they like to play their favorite Nintendo Switch games.”
Pokemon fans interested in upgrading to the Switch Lite might want to wait until November 8, which is when Nintendo will launch a special “Zacian and Zamazenta Edition” of the handheld alongside Pokemon Sword and Shield.
You can learn more about the Switch Lite via Nintendo’s official website or by viewing the First Look video embedded above.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Pokemon Switch
Splatoon-themed Tetris 99 Maximus Cup is coming this weekend
Nintendo will host the fifth Maximus Cup for Tetris 99 players this weekend, and high-scoring participants will be able to unlock a colorful Splatoon Theme for the online puzzler. Created to celebrate Splatoon 2‘s upcoming “Final Splatfest,” the theme is dripping with ink and it even deploys the distinctive Splatoon font for in-game text.
The Splatoon-themed Maximus Cup will begin on Friday, July 12, at 3:00 AM (Eastern Time) and run for a full four days, concluding on Tuesday, July 16, at 3:00 AM (also Eastern Time). Players can expect to see the same point scale from previous Cups, and they’ll need 100 points to unlock the Splatoon Theme. Each win is worth 100 points, but participants can also nab precious points for 2nd Place (50), 3rd Place (30), 4th-10th range (20), 11th–30th (10), 31st–50th (5), and 51st–80th (2).
As always, you must be a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber to compete in Tetris 99’s Maximus Cup events.
Netflix teams up with Studio MDHR to produce The Cuphead Show!
Chad and Jared Moldenhauer poured their hearts and souls into the development of Studio MDHR’s debut title, Cuphead. In the works for more than seven years, the brothers parlayed their love of 1930s animation and the gameplay stylings of Contra III: The Alien Wars to create a platform shooter for the ages.
Now, Netflix has signed on to adapt the game into a new animated series known as The Cuphead Show! The series will follow the adventures of Cuphead and Mugman throughout Inkwell Isles and, naturally, it’ll employ “an animation style inspired by the classic Fleischer cartoons from the 1930s”:
The game that has won the hearts and minds of fans with its gorgeous retro hand-animated style, crazy boss-brawls, and challenging gameplay will come to life on television for the first time ever in The Cuphead Show! The new series will expand on the characters and world of Cuphead, with an animation style inspired by the classic Fleischer cartoons from the 1930s.
The character-driven comedy follows the unique misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his cautious but easily swayed brother Mugman. Through their many misadventures across their surreal home of the Inkwell Isles, they’ve always got one another’s backs.
We don’t know when the first episodes from The Cuphead Show! will be available to stream through Netflix, but hopefully it’s pretty soon.