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Nintendo and Square Enix will bring Bravely Default II to the Switch in 2020
During this year’s Game Awards, Nintendo and Square Enix announced that Bravely Default II will be released exclusively for the Switch in 2020. A World Premiere Trailer for the RPG sequel accompanied the announcement, and it’s been embedded above.
If you’re confused by the title, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Bravely Default II is actually the third game in the Bravely series, and shouldn’t be confused with 2016’s Bravely Second: End Layer. However, it does feature an entirely new set of characters, so it is something of a fresh start for the franchise:
An original RPG experience is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2020 from the team that brought you the Bravely series and Octopath Traveler, and featuring music from Revo, acclaimed composer of the original Bravely Default soundtrack.
A new world, a new story and all-new Heroes of Light await!
Bravely Default II is currently in the works at Square Enix’s Team Asano, whose members produced the original game in the series, as well as 2018’s Octopath Traveler.
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Game Awards 2019
Xbox Scarlett will officially be known as Xbox Series X
Rather than wait until early next year to host their own special reveal event, Microsoft used last night’s Game Awards ceremony to officially announce that their next-generation console will be known as the Xbox Series X.
We don’t know why Microsoft decided to go with a name that’s so similar to the currently-available Xbox One X, though I suppose we should have expected shenanigans like this from a company that decided to use Xbox One as the name of their third major console.
Naming controversy aside, the Xbox Series X looks like a pretty impressive piece of technology. It’ll include backwards compatibility for all three previous generations of Xbox hardware, as well as a funky PC-like case design, and a new controller that features a Share button and “an advanced d-pad derived from the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller.”
Xbox Wire has more details about what’s happening under the hood, including confirmation that the Xbox Series X will support visuals up to 120 FPS and with 8K resolution.
From a technical standpoint, this will manifest as world-class visuals in 4K at 60 FPS, with possibility of up to 120 FPS, including support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and 8K capability. Powered by our custom-designed processor leveraging the latest Zen 2 and next generation RDNA architecture from our partners at AMD, Xbox Series X will deliver hardware accelerated ray tracing and a new level of performance never before seen in a console. Additionally, our patented Variable Rate Shading (VRS) technology will allow developers to get even more out of the Xbox Series X GPU and our next-generation SSD will virtually eliminate load times and bring players into their gaming worlds faster than ever before.
The Xbox Series X will launch in Fall 2020, and Microsoft also promised that “the largest and most creatively diverse lineup of Xbox exclusive games in our history” will also be available next year, lead by 343 Industries’s Halo Infinite.
Posted in News, Xbox Series X
Tagged Game Awards 2019, Halo Infinite
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice wins “Game of the Year” at the 2019 Game Awards
Geoff Keighley and his co-presenters shotgunned their way through dozens of awards during tonight’s Game Awards, but in between all the World Premiere Trailers, they managed to shine a brief spotlight on a wide variety of titles. Unlike most years when a handful of titles dominate the conversation, this year’s Game Awards spread the wealth among a lot of worthy winners, including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, this year’s recipient of the “Game of the Year” award.
From Software’s ninja adventure also claimed the “Best Action/Adventure Game” trophy, but it wasn’t able to sway the jury for the other three nominations it was up for. Instead, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium became the most-honored game of the night, winning “Best Narrative,” “Best Role Playing Game,” “Best Independent Game,” and “Fresh Indie Game.”
Some of the ceremony’s other winners included Kojima Production’s Death Stranding (“Best Game Direction,” “Best Score/Music,” and “Best Performance” for Mads Mikkelsen), Remedy’s Control (“Best Art Direction”), Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“Best VR/AR Game”), Respawn’s Apex Legends (“Best Multiplayer”), and Activision’s Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (“Best Sports/Racing Game”).
In addition to a rousing speech by their former President, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo had a great night too, taking home trophies for “Best Fighting Game” (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), “Best Family Game” (Luigi’s Mansion 3), and “Best Strategy Game” (Fire Emblem: Three Houses).
A complete list of winners from the 2019 Game Awards can be found at Video Game Canon.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Game Awards 2019, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare repeats as the best-selling game of November 2019
Not even the combined might of two new Pokemon games could stop Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from holding on to its position as the best-selling game of November 2019… but Nintendo and Game Freak certainly made it interesting.
According to The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella (via Twitter), three Pokemon games actually managed to crack the top five last month. Pokemon Sword sliced its way to #3, while Pokemon Shield built a stronghold at #5. Sandwiched in the middle at #4 was the Pokemon Sword + Pokemon Shield Double Pack, which was counted as a separate game by the tracking firm.
If you were wondering what would have happened if all three games were combined onto a single line, Piscatella said that the combined sales of Sword, Shield, and the Double Pack would have landed at #2 for the month (though who knows what the sales charts would have looked like if Nintendo contributed eShop sales to the dataset). Even with that caveat, new releases dominated last month’s ranking, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (#2), Death Stranding (#7), and Need For Speed Heat (#9) in the top ten. Going further down the list, you’ll also find Just Dance 2020 at #14.
Overall, the game industry collected $2.3 billion in sales last month, a 19% drop from November of 2018. Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch was once again the best-selling console during the month, and it remains the best-selling console for all of 2019.
You can find the full list of best-selling games from November 2019 after the break. (more…)
Tetris 99 adds Team Battle Mode ahead of this weekend’s 10th Maximus Cup
Nintendo has a big surprise in store for Tetris 99 players ahead of the puzzler’s 10th Maximus Cup event. The consolemaker announced today that Team Battle Mode has been added to Tetris 99, which will allow friends and strangers to compete together as comrades-in-arms:
In Team Battle Mode, players choose their favorite of four teams at the start of each game. Some teams may end up with many more members, but smaller teams receive a boost in attack power when being attacked, adding an unexpected element to each match. As players get eliminated through the course of battle, the final team standing with at least one player remaining wins. And even better, all members of the winning team can share in the victory! Players who are KO’d early in the game will go into Spectator Mode and can send “Likes” to cheer on their teammates. Players will want to stick around until their team has obtained a rank to receive their XP points. Or, if Team Battle is the active mode for a Maximus Cup event, stay for their event points.
As you might have guessed, Team Battle Mode will be the focus of this weekend’s Maximus Cup, which begins in just a few days on Friday, December 13, at 2:00 AM (Eastern Time). The contest will continue until Tuesday, December 17, at 2:00 AM (Eastern Time), and the 999 players who earn the most Event Points will receive 999 Gold Points (the equivalent of $10) to spend in the eShop.
In addition to Team Battle Mode, this update will also give Tetris 99 players the chance to unlock some of the in-game Themes that were only available through previous Maximus Cup events. The Tetris for Game Boy, Splatoon, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Super Kirby Clash Themes are all available to purchase through the Customize menu for 30 Tickets apiece.
So, where we dropping?
Geoff Keighley launches The Game Festival to make limited-time demos of upcoming games available through Steam
Way back in 2006, Microsoft gave Xbox 360 fans a chance to try a limited-time demo of one of their E3 offerings, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, as part of their “Bringing It Home” marketing campaign. The campaign was such a success that the consolemaker repeated it in 2007 and in 2008. Now, more than a decade later, Geoff Keighley is bringing the concept back to coincide with this year’s Game Awards.
Dubbed “The Game Festival,” Steam users will be able to download more than a dozen limited-time demos this week, including highly-anticipated upcoming releases such as System Shock, SkateBird, Carrion, and more:
Demos Available During The Game Festival
- Acid Knife (Powerhoof)
- Carrion (Phobia / Devolver Digital)
- Chicory (Greg Lobanov)
- The Drifter (Powerhoof)
- Eastward (Pixpil / Chucklefish)
- Haven (The Game Bakers)
- Heavenly Bodies (2pt Interactive)
- Moving Out (SMG Studio / Devm Games / Team17)
- Röki (Polygon Treehouse / United Label)
- SkateBird (Glass Bottom Games)
- Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus)
- System Shock (Nightdive Studios)
- Wooden Nickel (Brain&Brain)
“Six years ago I bet everything I had to create The Game Awards as a way to celebrate our passion for gaming,” Keighley said. “Now feels like the right time to take the next step with The Game Festival, a completely digital approach to the consumer event space. Let’s face it: Not everyone can attend a physical trade show or consumer event. The Game Festival is designed from the ground-up as an event without barriers, extending the benefits of a physical event to the global gaming community that watches The Game Awards.”
The demos included as part of The Game Festival will be available to play through Steam beginning on Thursday, December 12, at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time). The demo period will end two days later on Saturday at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time).
Posted in News, PC
Tagged Game Awards 2019
Jamestown+ Review: Get Your Bum to Mars
Final Form Games is a small developer based out of Philadelphia, and they originally released Jamestown, a vertically-scrolling “neoclassical” shooter, for the PC in 2011. Three years later, they brought their game to the PS4 as Jamestown+, adding a pair of bonus levels and several new ships.
But here we are in 2019 and it looks like the game is finally ready to reach its “final form” (or rather, how the developer “originally intended” to release it). That’s because the development team will bring Jamestown+ to the Switch this week with even more updates and improvements. (more…)
Bethesda will bring John Romero’s Sigil and Final Doom to Doom and Doom II on consoles
Bethesda has promised that Doom and Doom II will soon become a little bit more complete on consoles and mobile ddvices. Yesterday, the publisher hosted a 26th Anniversary Celebration for the seminal first persona shooter on Twitch, and they confirmed during the livestream that four of the franchise’s more famous fan-made expansions will soon be available to download on the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, iOS, and Android.
These expansions will be available to download, for free, through a brand new Add-Ons tab in both games. According to Bethesda, the list of “curated” add-ons will initially include Sigil, which was released just this year as the unofficial “Fifth Episode” for Doom by co-creator John Romero, and No Rest For the Living, a Doom II expansion that made its debut on the Xbox 360 in 2010.
Final Doom, a 1996 retail repackaging of TnT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment, will also be available to download in Doom and Doom II as part of the update. Best of all, Bethesda confirmed that more add-ons will be added to both games at a later date.
On top of all that, Bethesda is also planning a few quality of life updates for the shooters, including bumping the graphics to 60 FPS and adding options for additional aspect ratios.
It’s currently unknown when the add-on update or the quality of life update will be available, but Bethesda said that it’ll be “soon.”