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Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End leads the way at 2016 Game Awards with eight nominations
We’re rapidly approaching the end of the year, and that means the 2016 Game Awards are right around the corner. The Game Awards will once again be produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, who will honor this year’s best games and look to the future with a number of huge World Premieres, including the first gameplay footage from BioWare’s Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Before we blast off to a far away galaxy, let’s stop and recognize Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which received eight nominations this year from the Game Awards Advisory Board. In addition to “Game of the Year,” Nathan Drake’s final adventure is also up for “Best Game Direction,” “Best Art Direction,” “Best Narrative,” and “Best Action/Adventure Game,” along with a “Best Performance” nomination for all three of the game’s main performers.
Uncharted 4 will compete with some of 2016’s biggest titles for “Game of the Year” at the 2016 Game Awards including Doom, Inside, Overwatch, and Titanfall 2.
“The Game Awards is all about celebrating the state of video game art,” said Keighley. “In just a few short weeks we will recognize the most outstanding games of 2016 in unexpected ways, and preview the most anticipated games of 2017 and beyond with the longest, most in-depth world premieres we’ve ever attempted… including surprises and new game announcements.”
The Game Awards will be held on December 1 at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time), and fans can watch the show through their favorite video streaming service or at TheGameAwards.com. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Doom (2016), Game Awards 2016, Inside, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Overwatch, TitanFall 2, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Nintendo is taking a Legend of Zelda Escape Room on tour in 2017
It looks like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild won’t be the only new Hyrulian adventure that Nintendo has planned for 2017. The consolemaker has teamed up with Scrap, the winner of USA Today’s “Best Escape Room of 2016” award, to create a Zelda-themed live puzzle experience known as Defenders of the Triforce:
While the words “escape room” might come to mind when describing this new experience, Defenders of the Triforce is so much more than that. Instead of escaping from a locked room, participants work in teams of six to solve a mystery in a huge area, all within a set time limit. The experience will let guests interact with classic items and characters seen in The Legend of Zelda series like the Goron, Zora, and Kokiri tribes. Discovered items can be used to solve puzzles and move forward into other areas, just like in The Legend of Zelda games.
The Defenders of the Triforce Puzzle Tour is currently scheduled to hit eight cities next year, and tickets can be purchased at ScrapZelda.com:
Defenders of the Triforce Puzzle Tour
- San Francisco: January 31 – February 5
- Los Angeles: February 10-12
- San Diego: February 24-25
- Seattle: TBA
- Phoenix: TBA
- Houston: TBA
- Chicago: TBA
- New York: TBA
Hopefully, more dates will be added to the Defenders of the Triforce Puzzle Tour soon.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might not be a launch title for Nintendo Switch
Officially, Nintendo will launch The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sometime in 2017, though many fans are hoping it’ll be released in March as part of the Switch’s launch lineup. Unfortunately, if you believe a new rumor from “Emily Rogers,” it’s much more likely the game will available in Summer 2017.
Breath of the Wild is shaping up to be a big game, and according to Rogers’s sources, it’s taking Nintendo much longer to localize it than they originally planned. Because of this scheduling snafu, the sources say Nintendo will need an addition four-to-six months to test Breath of the Wild for bugs, which would push its launch to next Summer:
That brings us to the month of November. More sources have now come forward and corroborated my information. They’ve told me that localization for Breath of the Wild might not be finished until the end of December. After localization is completed, this game will require between (at least) four-to-six months of testing. As I mentioned earlier, this is one of Nintendo’s largest and most ambitious games ever. The amount of testing required for a huge open-world game like this is enormous. Nintendo’s intention is to have the game as bug free as possible.
Eurogamer corroborated this proposed production schedule with their own internal sources, so it’s looking more and more likely that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild won’t be ready in time for the Switch’s launch window.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Black Friday Game Deals 2016: Toys R Us
It’s possible that Toys R Us leaked the final retail price of the Nintendo Switch this morning, and now we’ve also got our hands on the retailer’s Black Friday deals for this year.
Toys R Us will open at 5:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day, and if you’re looking for bargains on games and accessories for “Toys-To-Life” franchises like Lego Dimensions, Skylanders, and Disney Infinity, they’re definitely the place to go. All three Disney Infinity Starter Packs are just $9.99, and the figures will be available in a “Buy 1 Get 3 Free” deal. There’s also a 50% discount on all Team Packs and Level Packs for Lego Dimensions, as well as a $50 price reduction on the Starter Pack itself.
Toys R Us is slashing prices on a lot of this year’s biggest games for Black Friday including a $20 discount for BioShock: The Collection, Dark Souls III, Doom, Fallout 4, Just Dance 2017, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mafia III, Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, Mortal Kombat XL, Pro Evolution Soccer 2017, ReCore, Super Mario Maker, Titanfall 2, and XCOM 2. And shoppers will get $25 off Destiny: The Collection, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Edition, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition, Far Cry: Primal, Gears of War 4, Grand Theft Auto V, Guitar Hero Live, NBA 2K17, Overwatch, and more.
Like most other retailers this year, Toys R Us will also be selling PS4 Slim and Xbox One S system bundles for $250.
The complete list of Toys R Us’s Black Friday Game Deals for this year can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo officially ends production of Wii U in Japan
If you walk into any game store these days, you’re likely able to find a giant mountain of retro consoles like the NES, Super NES, and Nintendo 64. But while all of those systems sold in excess of 30 million units, the Wii U’s install base is only 13.3 million… so it might be tough to find a used one in the future if you don’t already own it. And after last week, Nintendo won’t be making it any easier.
In an announcement on Nintendo Japan’s website, the consolemaker revealed that production of the Wii U is currently scheduled to end sometime in the near future.
Nintendo of America is also scaling back on their Wii U stock, telling IGN that every Wii U console they had available has already been shipped to stores:
“As recently posted by Nintendo on the Wii U website in Japan, Wii U production will end in the near future for the Japanese domestic market. We have nothing to announce in terms of exact timing.
We can confirm that as of today, all Wii U hardware that will be made available in the North American market for this fiscal year has already been shipped to our retail partners. We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability.”
While it seems likely that the Wii U’s legacy will be its poor retail performance, the console was also home to some of the greatest games Nintendo has ever produced. Whatever the future holds for the Nintendo Switch, which will be released in March 2017, I’m sure every Wii U owner out there will hold on to its predecessor for many years to come.
New Retail Releases: Pokemon Sun/Moon, Watch Dogs 2, Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection, More
We hope you’ve been flexing your Pokemon muscles this year with Pokemon Go, because Nintendo and Game Freak are getting ready to launch Pokemon Moon and Pokemon Sun this week for the 3DS. The latest game in the long-running franchise will take place in the Alola region (which is based on Hawaii), and introduce a few dozen new Pokemon to players.
Also available on store shelves this week is Watch Dogs 2, the latest game in Ubisoft’s series of hacktivist open world titles. This time, players will travel to San Francisco and join up with Marcus Holloway, a hacker who is working to take down the latest version of ctOS.
Elsewhere in your favorite game store this week, you’ll find a bunch of re-releases. Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection will bring together all three games starring Ezio Auditore (Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations) in a new collection for the PS4 and Xbox One. Meanwhile, EA will package together Star Wars: Battlefront and all of its post-launch downloadable content in Star Wars: Battlefront – Ultimate Edition for the PS4 and Xbox One. Finally, Image & Form will release a retail-ready two-pack of SteamWorld Dig and SteamWorld Heist for the Wii U as SteamWorld Collection.
A full list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Harvest Moon Skytree Village, Cartoon Network Battle Crashers, Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, more
It’s time to head back to the farm as Natsume released Harvest Moon: Skytree Village for the 3DS this week. Now available to download through the 3DS eShop, Skytree Village asks players to revive the land through terraforming and “new and easy farming mechanics.”
Also available on the 3DS this week is Cartoon Network Battle Crashers, a crossover brawler from GameMill starring Gumball, Steven Universe, Finn (Adventure Time), Mordecai (Regular Show), and Clarence. 3DS owners will also get a shot at vintage side-scrolling action this week with the Virtual Console launch of Mega Man X3, a Super NES classic that was originally released in 1995.
Over on the Wii U eShop, two more underrated Wii games are now available to download. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles reformed the famous franchise as a light gun shooter, and Rhythm Heaven Fever smashed together more than 50 wild and wacky minigames that “teach players to feel the beat.”
You can read up on all of this week’s new additions to the Nintendo eShop after the break. (more…)
Black Friday Game Deals 2016: Best Buy
The interior of your local Best Buy has probably changed quite a bit in the last few years, but don’t worry, the retailer’s shelves will be packed to the ceiling with games this Black Friday. Best Buy‘s Black Friday sale will actually begin on Thanksgiving Day at 5:00 PM, but there’s sure to be plenty of games to go around.
New releases will be on sale at Best Buy on Black Friday including Battlefield 1, Destiny: The Collection, Gears of War 4, Mafia III, Overwatch, Titanfall 2, WWE 2K17, XCOM 2, and others for $29.99 each. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s Legacy Edition (which includes Modern Warfare Remastered) will also be on sale for $59.99.
And if you skipped over some of this Spring’s biggest games, you’ll get a chance to pick them up for cheap at Best Buy on Black Friday. Doom, Street Fighter V, Mortal Kombat XL, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, and more will be discounted to $19.99 apiece.
A complete list of Best Buy’s game deals for Black Friday 2016 can be found after the break. (more…)