Most Recent: Wii U
Yacht Club continues to joke about Shovel Knight 64… and talks seriously about King Knight expansion
Developers from Yacht Club Games have joked about creating Shovel Knight 64 for a few years now. But the company’s “Pixel Artmancer,” Nick Wozniak, revealed that their fanciful daydreaming about a Shovel Knight sequel that uses the blocky polygonal style made famous by the N64 might be real during an E3 2017 interview with App Trigger:
App Trigger: I’ve seen a little bit of Yacht Club talking about working on more Shovel Knight, or more things besides Shovel Knight after all this is done. What would your personal preference be? If you could work on anything, what would it be?
Nick Wozniak: Anything? I think one of the things we want to work on in the far future is definitely like a Shovel Knight 64, a 3D platformer. We would all love that. We all love Mario 64 to pieces and would just love to be able to jump into that.
Of course, this wasn’t an official announcement for Shovel Knight 64. Wozniak said that Yacht Club doesn’t just want to be known as “the Shovel Knight company,” and that they’re currently hard at work on “something new.”
However, the developer is also putting the finishing touches on Shovel Knight’s King Knight expansion, and Wozniak also had a bit to say about the game’s final add-on:
App Trigger: [King Knight is] great. He’s the light-hearted guy. Even though you guys gave us choices at the beginning of Shovel Knight, your eye is drawn more toward King Knight, so I think that’s the one a lot of people start with.
Nick Wozniak: He’s great. He’s the first guy you probably encounter, and he sets the tone of the rest of the game. You know what to expect, kind of, when you see King Knight. He’s a joke, even in his name. He’s not a king, he’s a knight who’s kingly, and that’s ridiculous and stupid and it sets the bar for your expectations of what the game is and what the knights are. His campaign is going to be a big departure from the very tragic story that Specter Knight was, but it will be interesting and focused on his journey to becoming King Knight. I’m not sure what the timeline is now, we’re still working through what it is, but it’ll be goofy.
Yacht Club has previously said they want to release the King Knight campaign before the end of the year, so it shouldn’t be too long before we can all be royals.
The Master Trials expansion for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now available
The Master Trials, the first expansion for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now available to download through the Nintendo eShop for the Switch and Wii U.
Players who purchase the Expansion Pass will be able to participate in the “Trial of the Sword” challenge, a wave-based dungeon that will “awaken” the Master Sword when completed. New armor pieces, a more challenging Master Mode, and other additions to the game will also be included in The Master Trials:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Expansion Pass: The Master Trials
More adventures await in the Master Trials pack. By completing the Trial of the Sword challenge, Link will prove that he has grown worthy, and the Master Sword will be awakened to always be in its glowing, powered-up state while usable. Master Mode ups the challenge, Hero’s Path mode tracks 200 hours of footsteps on the map, the Travel Medallion creates a warp point, eight new armor items offer unique effects, and the Korok Mask helps locate Koroks.
The Master Trials is available as of Breath of the Wild’s Expansion Pass ($19.99), and cannot be purchased on its own. But players who own it will also receive access to a second downloadable expansion, The Champion’s Ballad, that’ll be available this Fall.
And in case you missed it, the Nintendo Treehouse team recorded an in-depth look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Expansion Pass: The Master Trials during this year’s E3 Expo. You can find the video after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Mighty Gunvolt Burst, GoNNER, more
It’s time for another look at the weekly Nintendo Download, and two new side-scrollers have been added to the Nintendo eShop…
First up is Mighty Gunvolt Burst, a retro-themed 3DS side-scroller from Inti Creates that features characters from Azure Striker Gunvolt (Gunvolt) and Mighty No. 9 (Beck). Unlike the mashup franchise’s “bite-sized” first installment, Mighty Gunvolt Burst is a “full-sized” game with “a much deeper and more expansive world.”
Also available to download today is GoNNER, a roguelike side-scroller for the Switch from Raw Fury and Art in Heart. According to the developers, players will follow the “largely misunderstood and altruistic Ikk” in his quest to cheer up a giant land-bound whale named Sally.
You can learn more about both of these games (and the rest of this week’s new releases) after the break. (more…)
Content Crash #3: Will New Games Always Cost $60?
Welcome everyone to the Content Crash podcast. I’m your host, Dan Hartnack, and with as always, Keno Eastmond.
Today’s topic… we’d like to talk about the pricing of games. The standard has forever been that a brand new AAA release comes out and it is $60. That happened way back in the 90s with Nintendo and the Super NES. And all the way to today, that number has not changed, for the most part.
But why is that? And will it ever change?
You can subscribe to the Content Crash podcast on YouTube or SoundCloud.
Justice was served as Injustice 2 was the best-selling game of May 2017
NetherRealm Studios has done it again… The NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz) has revealed that Injustice 2 was the best-selling game in May.
In the midst of Wonder Woman-mania, the one-on-one fighter beat out the Switch’s heaviest hitters (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at #2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at #4), as well as Prey (#5) and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia (#7).
Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell well, landing at #3 in the monthly tally. And Blizzard’s Overwatch celebrated its first anniversary by squeaking into the top ten at #10.
A list of May 2017’s top ten best-selling titles can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Ever Oasis, RPG Maker Fes, Fatal Fury 2, more
Nintendo’s Summer of weird and wild new games continues to hum along with this week’s Nintendo Download…
Leading the pack is Ever Oasis, a brand new action RPG for the 3DS that was directed by Koichi Ishii, the creator of the Mana series. The game shares a lot of similarities with its spiritual predecessor, and players will need to “explore the desert and solve puzzling dungeons” to gather the resources needed to rebuild their oasis. Ever Oasis will be available to download beginning tomorrow, June 23.
Also available to download for the 3DS this week is RPG Maker Fes, a game-building game from NIS America. Players will be able to create their own RPGs without any programming knowledge, and share them with the entire 3DS community through the free RPG Maker Player app. RPG Maker Fes will be available to download on Tuesday, June 27.
But if you’re looking for something to download today, Switch owners are now able to purchase Fatal Fury 2 from the Nintendo eShop. The NeoGeo classic was originally released in 1992 and you can relive all the punching and kicking now.
More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)
Just Dance 2018 will launch for all current consoles (and the Wii) on October 24
I can’t believe it… someone is still producing Wii games in 2017. Ubisoft has announced that Just Dance 2018 will be available on October 24 for all current consoles (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U), as well as the original Wii.
The Just Dance 2018 soundtrack will include more than 40 songs, and Ubisoft delivered a sneak peek at the first 11 as part of the game’s first trailer:
Just Dance 2018 Tracklist… So Far
- Ariana Grande (featuring Nicki Minaj) – “Side To Side”
- Bebe Rexha (featuring Lil Wayne) – “The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)”
- Beyonce – “Naughty Girl”
- Big Freedia – “Make it Jingle”
- Bruno Mars – “24K Magic”
- Clean Bandit (featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie) – “Rockabye”
- Groove Century – “Daddy Cool”
- Hatsune Miku – “Love Ward”
- HyunA – Bubble Pop!”
- Jamiroquai – Automaton”
- Shakira (featuring Maluma) – “Chantaje”
Ubisoft also announced plans for an exclusive addition to Just Dance 2018 on the Switch that makes use of the console’s HD Rumble feature. Players will be able to grab two Joy-Con controllers and load up Double Rumble Mode to create “new Double Rumble choreographies that are tied to the game’s vibration system.”
But don’t worry, six players will still be able to bust a move in Just Dance 2018 with the mobile-friendly Just Dance Controller App on the PS4, Switch, Wii U, and Xbox One.
New Retail Releases: Arms, Cars 3 Driven To Win, Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin
It’s common knowledge that game publishers try to avoid releasing big new games during the E3 Expo, but as we all know, Nintendo’s methods are anything but common.
This week, the consolemaker will launch their stretchy-armed fighting game, Arms, for the Nintendo Switch. Featuring support for motion controls with the Joy-Cons and standard controls with the Switch Pro Controller, Arms will give players plenty of options to battle it out with the its colorful characters.
Also set to launch this week is a game adaptation of Pixar’s Cars 3. Cars 3: Driven To Win was developed by WB Games and Avalanche Software, and will be available for the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PS3, Wii U, and Xbox 360.
Finally this week, Double Fine will release a retail edition of the PlayStation VR-exclusive Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin. All copies of the game will also come with a download code for the original Psychonauts.
While we’ll be preoccupied with the E3 Expo for most of this week, we’ll be back soon with a look at this week’s newest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.