Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Wii U
After four months Nintendo has sold 4.7 million Switch consoles
Nintendo launched their Switch console a little over four months ago, and earlier today, the company revealed sales figures for the system’s second quarter of availability.
According to Nintendo, they sold 1.97 million Switch consoles between April 1 and June 30, bringing the worldwide install base for the console to 4.7 million. These new Switch owners are also buying a lot of games, and Nintendo reported sales of more than a million copies during the quarter for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (1.16 million), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (3.54 million), and Arms (1.18 million).
For comparison, Nintendo sold 13.56 miilion Wii U consoles over the life of the system. It’s very possible the Switch will surpass that total before the end of its first year.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Arms, Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Content Crash #7: Evo 2017 and Everything Esports
Welcome everyone to the Content Crash podcast. I’m your host, Dan Hartnack. As always, I’m joined by Keno Eastmond.
We’ve got some cool stuff to talk about today. We’re going to focus on everything esports. And what better time to discuss esports than in the aftermath of Evo 2017.
Fight!
You can subscribe to the Content Crash podcast on YouTube or SoundCloud.
Posted in PC, Podcast, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Injustice 2, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, Tekken 7
The 1-2 punch of Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 sit atop the best-selling games list for June 2017
Fighting game fans have proven, once again, that the genre is alive and well. According to the NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games in June, Tekken 7 (#1) and Injustice 2 (#2) took the top two spots. Nintendo’s bizarro take on the genre, Arms, also made a strong debut in the #5 spot.
Speaking of the Switch, Nintendo’s newest console continued to push the game industry to new heights in June, as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#6) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#7) stayed in the top ten.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella said: “The Nintendo Switch has been the catalyst for year-to-date growth. Year-to-date, hardware spending has grown 19% versus 2016 to $1.4 billion.”
However, older titles also performed well in June, including Grand Theft Auto V (#3), Overwatch (#9), and Minecraft (#17). 2015’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III (#12) even managed to outsell 2016’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (#15).
A complete look at the Top 20 for June 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Arms, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, FIFA 17, Forza Horizon 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Injustice 2, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, MLB The Show 17, NBA 2K17, NPD, Overwatch, Tekken 7, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Nintendo Download: Splatoon 2, Boost Beast, Fate Extella The Umbral Star, more
Nintendo’s quest to make everyone love the Switch continues this week with the launch of Splatoon 2.
The team-based shooter will be available to download from the Nintendo eShop this Friday, and players will get the chance to compete in several different competitive multiplayer modes, as well as the cooperative Salmon Run mode, and a single-player Campaign.
Two other options are available through the eShop for Switch owners today, including Boost Beast, a match-3 puzzler from Arc System Works, and Samurai Shodown, a fighting game that was originally released for the NeoGeo in 1993.
Finally, Fate Extella: The Umbral Star will be available to download for the Switch beginning on Tuesday, July 25. Fate Extella: The Umbral Star is the first action game in the Fate series, as well as the first to appear on a Nintendo console.
You can learn more about all of these games (and the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Splatoon 2
Max Brooks’s Minecraft: The Island novel is now available at bookstores everywhere
Mojang teamed up with Max Brooks (the author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide) to create the first official tie-in novel based on Minecraft. Titled Minecraft: The Island, the book is targeted at a younger audience and it’s available on store shelves today.
When writing Minecraft: The Island, Brooks found inspiration in classics like Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe to tell his own tale of survival and mystery:
Washed up on a beach, the lone castaway looks around the shore. Where am I? Who am I? And why is everything made of blocks? But there isn’t much time to soak up the sun. It’s getting dark, and there’s a strange new world to explore!
The top priority is finding food. The next is not becoming food. Because there are others out there on the island… like the horde of zombies that appear after night falls. Crafting a way out of this mess is a challenge like no other. Who could build a home while running from exploding creepers, armed skeletons, and an unstoppable tide of hot lava? Especially with no help except for a few makeshift tools and sage advice from an unlikely friend: a cow.
In this world, the rules don’t always make sense, but courage and creativity go a long way. There are forests to explore, hidden underground tunnels to loot, and undead mobs to defeat. Only then will the secrets of the island be revealed.
You can read the first chapter right now at the novel’s official website.
Nintendo Download: Hey! Pikmin demo, Miitopia demo, five new Switch games, more
Nintendo is planning to release several big games this Summer for the 3DS, but they’re giving handheld players a chance to try out these upcoming games titles with the launch of two special demos on the Nintendo eShop.
Hey! Pikmin will be released on July 28, and the demo asks players to “use the touch screen to throw Pikmin into action, solve environmental puzzles and survive hostile wildlife.” Miitopia will also be available on July 28, and its “Casting Call Demo” lets players add Mii characters to three different in-game video trailers for the RPG.
A quartet of new games for the Switch are also available to download today including Fatal Fury Special, a NeoGeo classic; I and Me, a puzzle platformer that stars two cats; De Mambo, a multiplayer arena game with one-button attacks; Death Squared, a puzzle game about “cooperation, communication, and robot explosions”; and Levels Plus, a puzzler with sliding tiles.
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)
Nintendo’s Eiji Aonuma is “gathering ideas” for next Legend of Zelda game but it will require a “long period” of development
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been a massive hit for Nintendo. It’s garnered rave reviews from critics and fans alike, and it instantly solidified the Switch as piece of must-have tech for a consolemaker in desperate need of a win. But if you were hoping that Nintendo was secretly working on the next game in franchise, I’ve got some bad news for you.
Franchise Producer Eiji Aonuma recently sat down with Gamereactor, and he confirmed that Nintendo is currently in the “gathering ideas” phase for a new entry in the Zelda series, but he also said that the game is still “far” off and will require a “long period” of development:
Gamereactor: Regarding the next Zelda, is there a schedule settled on yet? Could you give us any exclusive insights into that?
Eiji Aonuma: No, you will not get a scoop! Sorry, my dear friend [laughs]. We have no plans for a future Zelda, we are still far from all this unfortunately for you. Today, I’m at a stage where I’m trying to gather a number of ideas for a sequel, but I cannot do it alone. It’s a lot of work that will have to be done over a long period of time, and we’re still far from having planned anything. Leave us a little time…
For now, it looks like Zelda fans will have to make do with Breath of the Wild’s Expansion Pass. The first add-on, The Master Trials, was released two weeks ago. The second, The Champion’s Ballad, will be available this Fall.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo Download: Kirby’s Blowout Blast, Metal Slug 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids, more
Nintendo spent the morning delivering a huge dose of news for Splatoon 2 during the latest Nintendo Direct presentation, but the consolemaker also spent the afternoon updating the Nintendo eShop…
First up, 3DS owners will get the chance to download Kirby’s Blowout Blast today. Based on a minigame from Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby’s Blowout Blast asks players to inhale foes and blow them away across more than 25 3D stages.
Switching over to the Switch storefront, Nintendo’s newest console is now home to Metal Slug 2, a side-scrolling shooter that originally debuted on the NeoGeo in 1998. This time around, players will be able to choose from four different characters as they try to defeat Morden’s Rebel Army.
Finally today, Wii U owners will be able to download Rayman Raving Rabbids, which was originally released for the Wii in 2006.
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)