Nintendo Switch – One Year Later

2017 was a banner year for the video game industry. We had huge titles scattered throughout the year like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Assassin’s Creed Origins, PUBG and Wolfenstein 2,along with many others which where all received well by critics and fans alike. But amongst all of that we had one of the biggest comeback stories in the gaming industry in years.

The reinvention of Nintendo as a serious competitive force in the industry once again. This piece is mainly good to be a summary of the main library the Switch has produced in little over 12 months and how the future looks for this fantastic hybrid system!

Nintendo started the year in January with an unveiling event of the new system the Nintendo Switch previously codenamed NX to be released in March and launching with a mammoth release The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. To say this presentation garnered mixed reviews would be an understatement; some were excited for the machine whilst many online weren’t as optimistic.

I for one being a lifelong Nintendo fan was very excited with this showing. One thing Nintendo has done time and time again is prove the doubters wrong and show us why they’re one of the last few originals still breaking new ground in the video game industry.

Launch wise bar the obvious Zelda title there wasn’t much else on the scale of a big release. A few small titles like the awful tech-demo 1, 2, Switch and an average quick play game Super Bomberman R amongst a selection of Nindie style titles too.

This small-ish calibre of launch titles didn’t affect the sales that much as even with the small selection the big game Breath of the Wild already was causing quite the buzz in the video game world with nearly everyone already calling it Game of the Year 3 months into 2017, a title I may add that come the end of the year it still rightly deserves even though we have had a few come close and another from this very same system! If you doubt it you need only read my review of the game here on this site to see how much I loved this game!

A few issues pointed out at launch still haven’t been fixed a year later though which does show clear lacks in the system compared to the other big two in the industry. The lack of a proper online service is still a major bug bear to a lot and with only a tentative date of September 2018 as the release for it in this day and age 18 months after a console launch isn’t really acceptable for a full-fledged online launch in the digital age we are in.

The other major gripe with the system does tie into the online services but unlike the prior we have no answer or address to this situation – voice chat. Two words Nintendo tend to not like, compared to the PSN or Xbox Live which have full voice chat with Nintendo we have a smartphone app and an ugly Splatoon based headset to use in tandem. This isn’t good for a system which has taken the world by storm not being able to have such basic functions needed for co-operative play in 2018.

Nintendo did a fantastic job of pacing out big game releases in 2017 to make sure the audience was there every month of the year and not drop off.

March obviously we started with Breath of the Wild. April gave us a port of Mario Kart 8 called the Deluxe version making it the definitive Mario Kart experience with all previous DLC from 8 included with the revamped Battle Mode.

In May we got Minecraft, Ultra Street Fighter 2 and Disgaea 5. June was a new IP release and a big showing from the January presentation Arms, this was a big misfire for me personally. A smart idea not implanted well for me, this is truly the only ‘main’ Switch game I’ve actively disliked and not being a huge fighting game fan it might’ve played into that one though? Still Nintendo seem to be trying hard still to make Arms a thing going forward.  Arms still has legs they’re saying…

July was another huge month for them with the release of Splatoon 2 which came out on my actual birthday which made it a day 1 buy for me. This particular game I had mixed feeling with. I dropped off pretty quick initially as I felt it was too much like the first game and not enough ‘new’ content per se  but within the last 4 weeks I have finally dug deep into this one and found a new love for this game.

After finally making some progress with the online and actually unlocking more content and game modes I am now deep into this game and very excited for the Octo Expansion due out this year. This game just falls into the problem of without a full online functionality it feels a step behind other competitive online games like Overwatch, Destiny, PUBG or Fortnite. If it had some of the basic mechanics for voice chat and true matchmaking this could go big in the eSports field but until these are addressed I fear for the longevity of this one.

As we crept into the back half of the year post-E3 and the 6 months mark figures of the sales and the future was showing a positive note for Nintendo going forward with it slowly creeping up to lifetime sales of the Wii U already and gaining big traction in the gaming community with the impending Mario release.

August had one of our first big third-party games come to the system Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, a game that turned out far better than it had any right to be. An XCOM style game with crossover of two franchises you wouldn’t expect to.  September was more ports with DragonBall Xenoverse 2, Rayman Legends and Pokken Tournament DX, all good titles nothing to shout home about though.

October though was the flagship month though like March was. We had our first full Mario game on the system Super Mario Odyssey, a game that was universally loved and instantly jumped into the Game of the Year conversation. The fact that Nintendo had not one but two games literally cleaning house in reviews and conversations was something many probably wouldn’t have expected.

With the new Mario game we got a new technique for him with the inclusion of a new character called Cappy, a magical hat that lets you take over certain characters and enemies in the game so essentially if you wanted to be a Cheep-Cheep or a Koopa Trooper you could now. A very deep game with your standard 3D Mario tropes but with a huge post-game section this game instantly became a system and series favourite for me.

I’ve always traditional preferred the 2D Mario games over the 3D ones but this has been the first one in a long time to come close to the enjoyment I felt first playing Super Mario Bros 3 almost 25 years ago! A real tour de force on a system already with an absolute beast of a game like Breath of the Wild already released.

The year closed out in November and December with a few major titles and entries on the system. We had the mammoth Elder Scrolls: Skyrim release on a Nintendo Console for the first time and whilst I love the game and have put a good 20ish hours into this again I do feel a bit burnt out by this game with the amount of releases it has gone through.

Still Bethesda seem all in on Nintendo with Skyrim, and Wolfenstein 2 on the system. which as a fan of the company is great because we also got Doom portable here which considering Doom was my game of the year in 2016 tied with Inside I was more than happy to replay as it’s an absolute gem and runs perfect on the Switch and fits right at home!

The first big true JRPG released in December Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a game many thought would be delayed and wasn’t coming out in year 1. A fantastic game from start to finish and a great addition to the JRPG genre, it sold pretty well too so hopefully living in the age of ports and remakes it may mean we get a port of Xenoblade Chronicles X eventually which overall was the better game but like a lot of Wii U games it has been forgotten due to the nature of that system being a colossal failure.

The start of 2018 has slowed down on the AAA games and more showcased the hidden gems of the system – the Nindies library. The Nindies has been appearing week in week out throughout the year on the Switch and showcase some of the best indie games on the market today.

In the first few months of the year so far we’ve had one of the biggest indie games around Super Meat Boy, a Meat Boy-like climber game Celeste and the crushingly difficult Darkest Dungeon. Having this level of games of the system show Nintendo is once again all in with the indies and with future releases of classics like Inside and Limbo and exclusivity on first release of upcoming Shovel Knight DLC and Shantae DLC we do have some great content coming in the near future.

Overall I don’t think Nintendo could be any happier with how the Switch has turned out in the first 12 months. With them surpassing the lifetime sales of the Wii U in the first year, becoming the fastest selling console launch of all time and cleaning up at all the major game awards shows with Zelda and Mario the future is very bright for the system and as long as they keep the trajectory going the sky is the limit for them. Third party support is back at last for Nintendo, the public are back on their side and we are heading into Year 2 with Metroid Prime 4, Pokémon and Super Smash Bros on the horizon.

E3 in June will be the real test at how the future is going to shape up and how they handle the launch of the Nintendo Online Service as they’re going against some big hitters this year with some flagship titles on other systems releasing this year like God of War, Kingdom Hearts 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 and the always dominating Call of Duty. If they pace themselves well and don’t fall into any unnecessary Nintendo like tropes of over confidence I don’t see how they can fail.

If I was to give the Switch’s first year an arbitrary rating of the first year I’d have to go with a solid 8.5 out of 10. If the online and voice chats issues weren’t there, you could argue it being the strongest first year out of any system launch alas they are though and being 2018 in a digital age we can’t overlook such a major flaw with the system.

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E3 Report

So here is the SMG reports on this years E3. In conference order.

EA

Microsoft

Bethesda

Ubisoft

Sony

Nintendo

Nintendo, although only being 20+ mins long it did bore me. They showed off Arms again, a game no matter how often you show me I just can’t get into.

Skyrim, which is getting boring to see now. In a year Skyrim will be on phones. Metroid Prime 4 was announced, as someone who doesn’t play them it meant nothing to me. But I understand there’s a big following for them.

Pokken tournament, and a new Pokemon rpg are coming to the Switch…I couldn’t care less.

Highlights for me were, Kirby, Yoshi, Mario and Rabbids.

Overall if you’re a big nintendo fan it was probably the tits to you. For me, I didn’t see anything that sold me a Switch.

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Nintendo Switch – 2 Months On

I thought for this next article I’d do something a little different and have a write up about the Switch and how it stands just over 2 months after the launch. Being an avid Nintendo fanboy all the week back to the NES days and having owned every system they’ve released I have somewhat of a solid opinion with this company and their products and unfortunately there missteps they’ve made over the years. This isn’t going to be like a standard review just more like a thought-piece looking at the good, the bad and all the rest of what the future holds for this new little experiment of a console.

So let’s start off first with the launch. The system was launched on the 3rd March to a massive launch and has so far racked up 2.74 million units of the system sold with a surprising 2.76 million units of The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild also selling which means over a 100% attach rate so far for the newest Zelda game. These numbers are exactly the numbers Nintendo would’ve wanted right off the bat after the colossal failure the Wii U turned out to be. Working in a retail entertainment shop I see first-hand how quickly these systems are flying off the shelves, no sooner does one come in stock than it’s gone. Comparing that to the fact the Wii U’s just sat on the shelves for years and years this has been the launch that the Wii U should’ve received but poor marketing and a confusing name for casual players ultimately is the end story there.

Launch summary – Nintendo have succeeded in that point and managed to have a successful launch for the new system. 9/10

System and hardware time now! The Switch is quite a unique console compared to the rest in the market at the minute with it being advertised as a home-console/handheld hybrid which instantly gets people’s curiosity going. I have spent a massive amount of time so far on the system racking up close now to 90+ hours in Zelda among other games but my main state of play is playing the system in a handheld mode. As a handheld it is without a doubt the best there has been no doubt about it. It’s crisp, it’s sharp and looks and feels fantastic to hold. The same can’t be said all of the time when the system is docked for the home-console mode. The occasional frame-rate drop here and there and slightly less textured looks at times can be more jarring in this mode. It stills looks great but as a home-console machine it can’t compare to the other two players in the field.

It would’ve been wiser to advertise this as handheld you can play on the big screen instead of a home-console you can make portable. It may only seem like a little petty marketing switch-up but I think it would do more good for the system in the long run and let it take its place in the right category it should be in. The Joy-Con controllers you use for the system are nice little pieces of hardware and though they may seem small they fit incredibly comfortably in your hands. They don’t compare to playing with one of the Pro-Controllers but at the moment for me not many controller options do. The HD rumble feature in the Joy-Cons is a nice touch and makes them feel super sensitive which not all rumble does and the fact I didn’t have to fork out another £50 for a second controller is a good thing to me!

System and hardware summary – Good system and hardware overall but could be worked on more with the marketing over time and slight differences between handheld/home-console modes. 6/10

Let’s talk games now! Is there enough games on the system? Everyone knows at this point the big flagship game is Breath of the Wild and for a flagship game carrying the system so far you really cannot go wrong with this future Game of the Year contender but is there anything else of note on the system so far? We’ve just had Mario Kart 8 Deluxe release and after diving back into this game it’s still as fantastic as the Wii U release was. Playing this game handheld is a nice bonus for me to with preferring the handheld mode and they added Battle Mode sections are a nice touch. I would’ve liked to keep my stats from the Wii U version considering I probably put more hours into that game than any other on this generation but again this is Nintendo and they don’t do things the simple way. Other than that we have had a plethora of indie games mainly on the system and very few new retail releases. I’m just going to fire off a few little thoughts about some of the smaller games I’ve played now on the system instead of diving heavily into them or else I would be here all day and some frankly don’t deserve that much time off me.

1-2 Switch – the less said about this the better, a complete rip-off of a retail title and just a glorified tech-demo. What I played in the pre-launch event I went to seemed fun in small bursts but after buying this full price at launch this should’ve been bundled in with the system as this is not a full game by any stretch of the imagination. Super Bomberman R – again a fun little title but not a full price retail game at all, not much has changed in the Bomberman series for this to justify the price they charged for the cart. My recommendation would be just to play the SNES or N64 versions instead if I had to choose. On the indie front they have scored much better. Shovel Knight: Spectre of Torment – for a timed platform exclusive this is quite possibly the best ‘indie’ so far on the system. A nice little different take on the original game by having the exact same levels with a new character with new mechanics and enough twists to keep it fresh and something new. A must buy easily. FAST RMX – a re-release from the Wii U and one of the best racing-sims in a long time not called Mario Kart. A true spiritual successor to F-Zero and a fantastic pick up and play title. Snake Pass – one of the strangest games I’ve played but incredibly fun and highly addictive. Think Frogger with a snake and you’re not far off with this puzzle explorer. This is hands down a contender for Indie Game of the Year for the simplistic brilliance of it.

Games summary – a very mixed bag with some great new indies but not enough truly great retail releases yet. 7/10

The future for the Switch is a hard one to predict. With a successful launch you would assume it would be clear sailing for Nintendo but as previous consoles have proved anything can happen with these guys whether good or bad. You only need to look at the Wii U and Gamecube as examples; they both had some stellar games but ultimately got lost in the shuffle of the big players of the market. We have had some clear big hitters released so far game wise with some more promising ones for later in the year like Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 but ultimately even still the line-up for 2017 whilst having some strong games does still look a little barebones. What Nintendo ultimately announce or don’t announce at E3 will be telling for what the future holds for the Switch. Will we get a new Metroid after years of waiting? When will the Virtual Console finally appear on the system? What exactly does the new paid-online service actually entail and mean?

These are questions that shouldn’t really need to be answered straight away but with Nintendo’s past history of murky communication and strange business moves it can make you hesitant even as a huge fan of the company. 2 months in and it’s going well so far but whether they keep this up is anybody’s guess at this point. For me if I were recommending a new system to people I would 100% recommend a Switch for Zelda and Mario Kart alone. Is that enough for some people? Sure, for me I have found it increasingly difficult to go back to the PS4 after the Switch and found myself getting more and more bored of the home-system setup in favour of playing more high-quality games in handheld mode on the Switch. If they can keep up the level of games like Breath of the Wild for the handheld market this could be a clear rival for the  Sony’s and Microsoft’s of the gaming world but if they fall into the Nintendo pattern of mainly producing smaller indie style games we could end up with another Wii U.

REVIEW SCORE OVERALL:

Taking into account the different pro’s and con’s throughout this piece it’s clear the Switch is a nice addition to the console market with some great games but still with work needed to be done to be taken seriously as a competitor.

7.5 out of 10.

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Nintendo Switch Hands On

I’m Gonna Touch You

So this write up is going to be slightly different as it’s basically just a general opinion and overview of my first impressions of the Nintendo Switch console.

I attended a hands-on preview event in Manchester earlier on and tested a few games out on the console to see how it all shapes up. I’ll go through each game individually as each one had a different feel to the last which made for an original experience overall which for Nintendo at this point is second nature.

Blue Shell

The first game I tried out was the upgraded port of Mario Kart 8 subtly titled Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Not the most original of titles to start with. Overall just a slightly tweaked version of the Wii U, which isn’t a bad thing as that game is still one of the strongest Wii U titles, and without a doubt the best Mario Kart game we’ve had since Mario Kart 64 (sorry Double Dash you know it’s true).

For this game Nintendo had 8 different switch consoles set up in a circle so we could battle each other in a multiplayer race. I got to try out one of the new characters on display – Inkling Boy from Splatoon and used his bike the Inkstriker.

Both character and bike seemed to play quite well and the addition of the double-power up feature was nice even though it’s pot luck whether you get the double boxes as they are in line with the standard ones. Playing the game on the actual handheld offscreen looked fantastic and won’t diminish the gameplay in the slightest.

The picture quality was as good as playing the game on a standard tv and overall looked sharper than the Wii U version so this definitely looks like an upscale version and not just your standard run of the mill HD remaster ala Return to Arkham.

Inky Warriors

Game number two was Splatoon 2. Being a huge fan of the first game I was very excited to try out this sequel to see if it could live up to the standards of the first. It did not disappoint. They had the console set up differently for this game as we got to play with the Joy-Con controllers in the Joy-Con grip setup which was nice to test out.

I was always very curious about these controllers as the JoyCons do look quite small but once again Nintendo did not fail as in the grip it felt very comfortable and light but also incredibly sturdy at the same time.

I got to play on two different matches during this session and tried out a new weapon in – The Splat Duellies, a double pistol combination you can use. These new weapons made for a more intense match overall when you mix in the new supermove ability to which allows you to destroy huge portions of the map with your ink from the air in a slow motion style assault.

Incredibly fun like the first game but the motion controls seem a lot more fluid and gameplay is more evenly paced and easy to pick up.

1-2-Switch

Next up was a couple of the mini games from 1-2-Switch. This was a game I wasn’t really sold on from the presentation a few weeks back as it looked very gimmicky. How wrong I was playing on this as for a straight up fun party game it was incredible.

I played three different mini games – quick draw, milk and weight detection. Quick draw was a cowboy western standoff, simple but effective and all about the timing. Weight detection involved giving your joy-con a rattle to guess how many metal ball bearings are in the virtual box on screen which used the technology they described in the presentation explaining how you can feel ice cubes in a glass.

On the presentation it didn’t sound like it would make sense but giving the joy-con a little rattle really did feel like you could feel numerous balls moving around inside which really hit home how this new rumble hd technology really works. Lastly was Milk, the game that has been subject to many a comment or meme on the interwebs.

It was super fun but probably the most awkward I have ever felt playing a video game as simulating milking a cow with the controller whilst looking someone dead in the eye was definitely an experience probably best had after a few drinks on the Switch. What could have been a disaster of mini games ala Wii Party has now turned into a masterpiece of mini games ala Wii Sports. A day one purchase for sure!

To Arms, Two Arms

Now we move on to Arms. Nintendo’s new fighting game IP. Another simplistic concept, you play as a fighter fighting another character like most other fighting games yet the difference is your arms basically giant springs with different styles of weapons for hands.

This was the most active of all the games I demoed as it involved punching and moving around with your arms to perform different styles of attacks. I tried out a character that wasn’t shown in the trailer called Ninjara who was more of an evasive player focused on speed instead of strength and also has saw-blades for hands instead of boxing gloves.

This game focused more on the motion controls and ZL/ZR triggers than the other games for special attacks and aerial movements. Whilst an enjoyable game this was probably the weakest showing I thought but probably not helped by getting absolutely trounced by the opposing player.

Breath Of Fresh Air

I left the big one to last – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the whole reason I went to this event in the first place. Time slots where allocated to this demo for 10 minutes per person upon entering the event but I managed to get my standard 10 minutes about an hour in and then in the last 25 minutes of the event got to dive in to a full 20 minute sitting as the event was dying down.

From the short 10 minute showing first I was incredibly impressed with sheer scope of the game but not long after exiting a cave you start in and getting to the Grand Plateau I found after killing my first Bokoblin and speaking to a mysterious Old Man you come across (past Link maybe?!?!?!) and seeing the freaking Temple of Time in all its ruined glory my time was up.

This was devastating as I felt I hadn’t even scratched the surface of the demo so going back at the end gave a much better experience. The staff member who was supervising my second play advised me not to waste time finding Link’s clothes or speaking to said Old Man and instead to veer left to the first Shrine of the game.

Entering the Shrine I found my first new weapon a magnet like device which allows you to remove walls and floor pieces to make new paths or just pull doors wide open. A completely new Zelda experience which at the same time felt very nostalgic.

The open world mechanics of the game seemed very strange though with the fact you have a stamina bar and when climbing or swimming if you run out of stamina you either fall to your demise or drown makes this a new take on the franchise.

The game looked stunning and played wonderfully, seeing the Grand Plateau in full HD with Death Mountain looming in the background was out of this world and the fact the small area I got to see was only 2% of the world map really showed how big the scale of this game is going to be. The long five year wait for this game is almost over and many like me bought a Wii U specifically for Zelda so it is a sore spot the definitive version will not be on the Wii U but from playing the game first hand I can tell it will not look as crisp as this version does.

Final Thoughts

I was always a tentative day one buyer for the Switch, but this short two hour test has made me a definite day one buyer. The console is sleek and stunning to look at. The off-screen handheld play is ridiculously good looking and smooth. The joy-cons feel extremely comfortable with or without the grip.

The pro-controller like the Wii U version is as good if not better than the standard controllers for the PS4 or XBOXONE. Graphics wise is considerably higher than the Wii U as Breath of the Wild alone looks like a true next-gen game and even Mario Kart has a significant jump in looks. Whilst it may not seem as powerful in the long run as the competition I think Nintendo has really hit it out of the park with this one, and is positioning itself back at the table in a big bad way.

Where the Wii U ultimately fell, I can see the Switch succeeding. I challenge anyone to play even one of these games on the machine and not instantly feel the joy of Nintendo of old finally coming back. Nintendo have Switched it up big time with this console and I would not be surprised in the slightest to see Sony and Microsoft take note and seriously consider getting into the home console-handheld hybrid territory in the coming years.

Nintendo welcome back.

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Marvel Modern Gaming

Hulk Smash!

Don’t make me angry

As a person whose first comic book hero was Captain America, the past 10 years has been has been great to me. Bringing Cap to the big screen, properly. I enjoyed First Avenger, Winter Soldier was great, and Civil War (whilst not as big as the comic) was so much fun.

Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a little twee at times, the films tie together well enough so it feels like a cohesive universe. Meaning, the MCU has become the most expensive television series ever!

We are actually paying £10 per person to see an episode, for the most part they are worth it (Iron Man 3 was shit).

Whilst other movie adaptations of our favourite Heroes and Heroines in tight tight clothing are out there, including other Marvel franchises such as X-Men, and the poor poor Fantastic Four. It’s the specific Disney driven MCU that captures more of the audience’s imagination.

Stretchy Purple Pants

Now with Marvel being a part of the Disney machine, you’d expect a bunch of merchandise right? Well of course you do, and we get it too, a metric fuck ton of it. Marvel has become a huge business for Disney. After they spent $4 billion on acquiring the rights. The movies alone have netted more than $8 billion.

Marvel and its characters are pretty much a licence to print money. There is Marvel everything, Marvel toothpaste, Marvel water, Marvel towels, Marvel cosplay, credit cards, wallets, mobile slidey puzzle games, you can even play online slots games with our Ultimate Avengers front and centre, doling out cash to you.

But my question is: Where are the good Marvel games?

The standalone Captain America game was too bad, but it was a poor man’s Batman: Arkham Asylum. The Iron Man games are horrid, then there is the Asgardian abortion of Sega’s Thor game. oh my!

We’ve had some ups with Marvel Vs Capcom 3, and Disney Infinity (too some extent). But nothing to get too excited about.

Feel The Heft Of Mjolnir!

Great Odin’s Raven

Now Marvel have had some decent games don’t get me wrong. I particularly like the Ultimate Alliance games, which Activison somehow messed up on re-release for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Square-Enix have stepped into the fray now, announcing that they how a partnership with Marvel (whatever that means). So it’s look like we are going to be getting at least one Marvel game outta them. The announcement trailer calls it ‘Avengers’. Lots of thought went into that one. 

We shall see what they deliver. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. I know that personally I want a multiplayer game, and not one that needs to be online in order to play. 

Bring back arcade side scrolling beat-em ups but with super pretty graphics, and tons of characters to choose from. 

I’m guessing Square-Enix will be handing the reins over to either, Edios Montreal, Crystal dynamics or IO Interactive. I’d like to see what the latter would do with the chance.

What are your favourite Marvel or comic hero based games? Please chat below.

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The SMG Awards 2016

Thats two years now

So here we are with another list of winners for you, as voted by, by the members of the Show Me Games Facebook group. The winners will receive a little trophy, when I get round to it.

We’ve a lot to get through, so lets get started:

Best Retro Home Computer For Gamers

C64

Amiga

ZX Spectrum

Winner: Amiga

Best Console Ever

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Playstation

Playstation 2

Winner: Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Best PC Exclusive 1961-2016

Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War

Blade Runner

World Of Warcraft

Winner: World Of Warcraft

Best Portable Exclusive 2011-2016

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

Dissidia 012 (PSP)

Pokemon Go (Mobile)

Winner: The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

Best Wii U Exclusive 2012-2016

Hyrule Warriors

Super Mario Maker

Mario Kart 8

Winner: Mario Kart 8

Best Playstation 4 Exclusive 2013-2016

Bloodborne

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

No Mans Sky

Winners: Bloodborne & Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Best Xbox One Exclusive 2013-2016

Killer Instinct

Gears Of War 4

Sunset Overdrive

Winner: Killer Instinct

Best Game Character 2016

Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)

Ryan Clarke (The Sims Series)

Trevor (GTA V)

Winner: Ryan Clarke (The Sims Series)

Best Multiplayer Game 2016

Overwatch

Doom

Paintballing

Winner: Overwatch

Best RPG 2016 (Including Tactical, JRPG, Western, MMO etc)

Final Fantasy XV

Dark Souls III

XCOM 2

Winner: Dark Souls III

Best Game 2016

Overwatch

Doom

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Winners: Uncharted 4:A Thiefs End & Doom

Best Sports Game 2016

Rocket League

Fifa 17

Street Fighter V

Winner: Rocket League (for the second year running?)

Best VR game/experience 2016

Batman: Arkham VR

Until Dawn: A Rush Of Blood

Elite: Dangerous

Winner: Batman: Arkham VR

Mess Up Of 2016

Konami

No Man’s Sky

Star Fox Zero

Winner: No Man’s Sky

Best UK Gaming Events/Locations 2016

SMG’s Xbox GTA V Party

Retro Games Night @ The Batcave

Arcade Club

Winner: Retro Games Night @ The Batcave

Best Visuals 2016

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

Battlefield 1

Winner: The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

Most Anticipated 2017

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Red Dead Redemption 2

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Winner: The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 

Prat Of 2016

Sean Murray (No Man’s Lie)

Hideo Kojima (Attention Seeking)

Geoff Keighley (The Kojima Awards)

Winner: Sean Murray (No Man’s Lie)

Best Episodic Game 2016

King’s Quest

Hitman

Minecraft: Story Mode

Winner: Hitman

Hidden Gem 2016

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth

Tokyo Mirage Sessions

Firewatch

Winner: Firewatch

Best DLC 2016

Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR mission

Fallout 4

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

Winner: The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

Best Sound Design 2016

Final Fantasy XV

Doom

Battlefield 1

Winner: Doom

Which brings us to a close this year, although I don’t agree with all the victors, that’s how a democratic awards system works.

Thank you to all who voted and added to the polls. Time to clear the field and start on the 2017 awards.

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Nintendo Switch Presentation

A New Challenger

So the Nintendo Switch Presentation just got done announcing a ton of new details and information in the early hours of this morning at 4AM. Being a lifelong Nintendo fan and borderline obsessive this event was a must watch for me and turned out to be a fantastic showing for the company. Over the next few paragraphs I’m going to ramble on about all the new announcements, information and all round Nintendo goodness that was displayed.

So let’s start off with the big one. The Nintendo Switch is officially a thing and will be here very soon. More specifically March 3rd 2017, it had previously been rumoured for a March 17th release date but Nintendo full on switched it up and we are getting it a full 2 weeks prior to what was anticipated. In little over a months’ time we will have a brand new innovative Nintendo system in our hands. The pricing for the console seemed in par with usual new Nintendo releases. £279.99 standard RRP and it comes bundled in two forms, the standard system with grey Joy-Con controllers or standard system with blue and red Joy-Cons.

Pretty Little Toaster

We got a full on look of the system and all the little intricacies of the hardware. We got a look at the new controller figurations on display the Joy-Cons. These little pieces of hardware connect to the tablet like screen device and can be used in a similar way of the Wii U gamepad or removed separately to form individual Wii-Mote like controllers. You can also attach them to the Grip-Pad to turn them into a more traditional looking controller and there will be also be a pro-controller version released as well around launch. These controllers can also act as controllers for multiplayer so straight off the bat you have a controller ready for player 2 without having to spend a fortune on a second controller.

The look of the Joy-Con initially looks quite small but adding the strap accessory does sound to add some more size to the handheld controller making it look more comfortable. The tech in the controllers seem quite Nintendo like from the get go with it featuring the same sort of designs as the Wii Motion Plus controllers by being very sensor sensitive including the new version of this the HD Rumble and an in built NFC chip for the Amiibo addicts out there. This new software was demonstrated by shaking the remote to signal the difference of knowing whether there is one, two or three ice cubes in a glass. It may seem gimmicky but at the end of the day this is what Nintendo does down to a tee.

The system itself looked quite slim and sleek on the design front. The Wii U gamepad whilst an originally idea and worked quite well in certain games wasn’t the most appealing of controllers. The Switch gamepad is the opposite look wise, it looks slim as a tablet, has a nice new docking station for when you’re on the big screen playing and looks very comfortable and not too big for the handheld market when you’re on the move. The battery life does seem like it could be an issue though as it was reported anywhere from 2.5 hours to 6 hours battery life depending on the game so any of your big budget games I imagine will get the short end of the stick battery wise.

They did also briefly mention the online aspect of the system but didn’t reveal too much of what to expect. Voice chat features where absent but they mentioned an account hooked to a smart phone and initially free online period but paid online services for later in the year. Not really a surprise considering the other big companies all pay for online services but I’m still curious whether Nintendo will feature an achievement/trophy like option for games in future.

Following suit from Sony to Nintendo have finally removed region locking from there systems they announced. This announcement will no doubt please fans that are constantly on the lookout for new Nintendo games which have previously all shipped globally at different time periods to each other.

Games, Games, Games

Time to move onto the games now the house keeping specs are out of the way and boy did we get some good looking games!

We got a hands on look at two new Switch IPs first off showing the use of the Joy-Con. ‘1,2, Switch’ is a basically Wii-Play like game for the system which focuses on the features used by the Joy-Con. It features multiplayer style games like a Texas standoff, answering telephone calls, casting wizard spells, simulating air guitar moves, dance offs and more. The premise of this game is to look at the other player and not the screen to gage timings to win. They said the intention of this game was made so that ‘everyone can play together.’ The second new IP shown was ARMS which is a motion controlled boxing game. This game looked like a cartoony boxing game where your characters arms are giant like spring boxing gloves that fire across the screen at fast paces and in different directions. It didn’t look like the most complex of games but again this looks like pure Nintendo simplistic fun and a nice little party game to play but I imagine when they add in the online functionality at a later date it may get more competitive.

We saw a few sequels from newer Nintendo IPs throughout the presentation such as Splatoon 2. It looked very similar to the first game but slightly bigger maps and new weapon systems but overall looks to be the same level of enjoyment and no surprise considering the first one was a surprise hit. We also got Xenoblade Chronicles 2 from Monolith Soft, this looks to be a direct sequel to the original Xenoblade Chronicles and not the X game that was released little over 12 months ago on the Wii-U. It did look quite impressive from the trailer shown and as a big fan of the first two this will be the RPG that grabs my attention the most from the Switch. We have a new Warriors game coming from Koei Techmo studios aswel, this time connected to the Fire Emblem series but nothing was shown of the actual gameplay just a little teaser but it’s nice knowing they are going to carry on with these Nintendo specific Warriors games as Hyrule Warriors was a blast to play.

Super Mario

The next big Mario was announced. Super Mario Odyssey – a new open world sandbox game in the vain of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. It was nice for them to reference Super Mario Sunshine as it always seems to be the Mario game that even though critically acclaimed seems to get forgotten in the mountain of Mario games released. It looked quite different from the usual games this one as it showed numerous different types of worlds you will travel to, some looked very Mushroom Kingdom like but they also placed in some real world locations like New York and Tokyo which whilst a strange addition looked pleasantly surprising. Mario has a new attack mode by the look of it as well in the form of his cap being able to throw it at enemies whilst also using it as a jump-pad, it seemed all normal until the end of the trailer when it was shown the cap now has eyes and seems to be a living creature so it’ll be interesting to see what the end game and plan of this is in the game.

For the first time in a long time it was nice to see Nintendo talk about 3rd party support and mention they have currently over 50 individual studios working on over 80 games for the system so it looks like we may finally get regularly releases on the system unlike the Wii-U which had some incredibly long draught periods due to the lack of support. With them talking about all the support this cut to video clips and introductions from studios announcing games and support for the system. With Bethesda revealing Skyrim after a big hush hush moment from the reveal video to EA announcing the new Fifa will feature on the system it seems there will no doubt be plenty of AAA games on the system over the next few years. SEGA announced a new Shin Megami Tensei game and Sonic Mania whilst Square Enix announced a huge list of Dragon Quest games coming to the system including Dragon Quest X and XI and Dragon Quest Heroes 1 and 2 as well as a new untitled project currently codenamed ‘Project Octopath Traveler.’

Nintendoes what Sega Don’t

The support and enthusiasm for the system and games from all involved seemed genuine and back to the Nintendo of days gone by. The presenters on stage and in video really seemed like they were having a great time with the games and talking about them and seeing Nintendo actually put on a stage presentation again was great to see. It featured just the right amount of information to get you excited for the system by having aspects of the E3 style stage shows and the pre-recorded segments of the Nintendo Direct videos. It was also the first public showing of Tatsumi Kimishima as president of the company and overall he did a great job for the first showing, hopefully in time he will become as much a frontal figure as Satoru Iwata was for the company.

The presentation ended with a segment going from the live feed in Japan to NoE president Satoru Shibata talking about the European events demoing the Switch and then crossing over to NoA president Reggie Fils-Aime. Reggie’s segment was slightly longer as we got a look at Shingeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and teasing the release date.

Overall this presentation delivered on everything it set out to do. It announced a fantastic line-up of games to look forward to, revealed a modest price point and showcased the new innovative features we have come to expect from Nintendo. If you were on the fence in regards to the Switch I would highly recommend checking out the full presentation and if Breath of the Wild and Skyrim on the go can’t convince you then I’m not sure what will.

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Nacon Revolution

Shooty Shoot

The first “Pro” controller for the PS4 has arrived (23/12/16) and this one, the Nacon Revolution, comes with a hefty £89.99 price tag, but comparing this to the Razer Raiju due at the end of January costing a whopping £149.99, it ALMOST seems like a steal! So after much deliberation I bought one and these are my thoughts.

There are 2 main things we notice about the Revolution upon seeing it for the first time. Firstly, the sticks are in the Xbox style configuration, now personally I have little preference, I like the Playstation layout, I like the Xbox layout, and I can alternate between the two without issue so for me this was not a selling point but I know a lot of people prefer this. Secondly the pad is wired, now the reasoning for this is supposedly input lag reduction etc, but honestly I am not bothered, I have to play with the wire most of the time anyway as my kids never put the pads on charge so they are always dead or close to it every time I come to play anyway.

Touch My Nubbins

Upon closer inspection you will notice that the 4 main buttons, are larger and slightly closer together than the original layout which I was initially worried about due to my huge thumbs but this has not been a problem at all. There are also 4 buttons on the rear of the pad which can either be mapped to any other button or you can assign a macro to each of these, more of that below. There is a ring of light around the right stick which I absolutely love just because it’s shiny and the one thing I am a little worried about is that there is no light bar, which may be an issue with some VR games that use it but I am yet to test that far.

Now for the bits you can’t see. Pretty much the only thing I don’t like about the controller is the vibration. It’s there and it works but it feels a bit off? It is hard to describe but it’s almost too high pitched, doesn’t feel bass like enough for my liking but its not something that bothers me tremendously. Quite a nifty option here is a removable chamber on both sides of the controller that lets you add weights to the controller to suit you, 6 weights are included, 2x 10g, 2x 14g, and 2x 17g.

The chamber can take 2 weights in each so you can change it about to your liking. I like a fairly weighty pad so this was great for me and went for the 10g and 17g in each side so that it was heavy but with the option to increase a little more should I want to. Now be warned, you need to use a little plastic “key” thing to turn each one to pull it out and the chambers on mine were really stiff and I basically mangled the cheap plastic key and had to use a screwdriver but that left a small mark on my shiny new pad.

Programmed For Success

In addition to the programmable buttons on the rear, you can also change the sensitivity of the right analogue stick, ideal if you are looking for extra precision on your FPS games but not something that I can say I need. There are also up to 4 “profiles” that you can set up, meaning you can set one up for some of your favourite games or genres.

I have yet to make the most of this but have so far set up one profile for EVE: Valkyrie so that I don’t have to let go of my left stick to press up on the D-pad to drop a drone, I can press one of the rear buttons instead, and a Street Fighter profile for Cammy so I can Cannon Spike and Spiral Arrow from either side at the touch of a button which is pretty cool and may experiment further with combo’s. When setting up the macros you have to select the delay between each press so there is plenty to play with.

To do all of this you need to plug the pad into a PC and download the companion program. Although this looks pretty shiny it is pretty fiddly and takes some getting used to, and if you don’t switch you pad into “Advanced” mode before connecting then you will wondering why you can’t change anything (like I was!) for a while but you get there in the end.

Electric Company

I have tried this with a few games now and have varied experiences. In Dark Souls 3 I noticed little difference and the only difference with Street Fighter was the benefit of the macros but then I tried it on EVE: Valkyrie and I could really notice the benefit of the 46 degree movement of the analogue sticks, I found it much easier to perform small corrections and it was an absolute joy to control. The sticks don’t feel quite as stiff as the original Dual Shock 4 and this means it is easier to do smaller movements.

The reason I went for this instead of waiting for the Raiju are multiple. Firstly, £149.99 is just a little too extreme. It wasn’t long ago that the console itself was selling for that price. Secondly, the shape and the shoulder buttons are more like that of an Xbox one controller and although I do not mind the shape I really hate the shoulder buttons on those. Finally, 2 of the shortcut buttons are placed just past the R2 buttons towards the centre and these just seem really badly placed to me.

Overall I am happy with this. I don’t think it’s going to make me a better gamer, and I don’t think this is a “must buy” by any stretch but if you are thinking about getting a new controller and fancy spending a little more for something that’s a little different with some nice features, then I would recommend this.

If I had to score this controller I would give it a 8/10.

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The Game Awards 2016 Results (The Keighley’s)

Geoff Keighley and his friends are back, to sell you all the games you didn’t know you wanted sold to you. Plus a few ‘Exclusive’ trailers and videos. Looks like they filled the arena out a bit more this time. For a more in depth look at The Game Awards 2016, check out Ramble On…Ep 89. or join the Facebook group.

Now onto the award nominees and winners

GAME OF THE YEAR:

DOOM (id Software/Bethesda)

Inside (Playdead)

Overwatch (Blizzard)

Titanfall 2 (Respawn/Electronic Arts)

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)

BEST GAME DIRECTION:

Blizzard (for Overwatch)

DICE (for Battlefield 1)

id Software (for DOOM)

Naughty Dog (for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End)

Respawn (for Titanfall 2)

Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)

BEST NARRATIVE:

Firewatch (Campo Santo)

Inside (Playdead)

Mafia III (Hangar 13/2K)

Oxenfree (Night School Studio)

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Winner: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SIE)

BEST ART DIRECTION:

Abzu (Giant Squid/505)

Firewatch (Campo Santo)

Inside (Playdead)

Overwatch (Blizzard)

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/SIE)

Winner: Inside (Playdead)

BEST MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN:

Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)

DOOM (id/Bethesda)

Inside (Playdead)

Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)

Thumper (Drool)

Winner: DOOM (id/Bethesda)

BEST PERFORMANCE:

Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay, Mafia III

Cissy Jones as Delilah, Firewatch

Emily Rose as Elena, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Nolan North as Nathan Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Rich Summer as Henry, Firewatch

Troy Baker as Sam Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Winner: Nolan North as Nathan Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

GAMES FOR IMPACT:

1979 Revolution (iNK Stories)

Block’hood (Plethora Project/Devolver Digital)

Orwell (Osmotic Studios/Surprise Attack)

Sea Hero Quest (Glitchers)

That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)

Winner: That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME:

Firewatch (Campo Santo)

Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)

Inside (Playdead)

Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe/Chucklefish Games)

The Witness (Thelka, Inc.)

Winner: Inside (Playdead)

BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD:

Clash Royale (Supercell)

Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

Monster Hunter Generations (Capcom)

Pokemon Go (Niantic)

Severed (DrinkBox Studios)

Winner: Pokemon Go (Niantic)

BEST VR GAME:

Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady Studios/WBIE)

EVE: Valkyrie (CCP Games)

Job Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)

Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)

Thumper (Drool)

Winner: Rez Infinite (Enhance Games)

BEST ACTION GAME:

Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)

DOOM (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)

Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)

Overwatch (Blizzard)

Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)

Winner: DOOM (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME:

Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

Hitman (IO Interactive/Square-Enix)

Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)

Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Winner: Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)

BEST RPG:

Dark Souls 3 (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal/Square-Enix)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (CD Projekt RED)

World of Warcraft: Legion (Blizzard)

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (CD Projekt RED)

BEST FIGHTING GAME

Killer Instinct Season 3 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft Studios)

King of Fighters XIV (SNK/Atlus USA)

Pokken Tournament (Bandai Namco Studios/The Pokemon Co.)

Street Fighter V (Capcom)

Winner: Street Fighter V (Capcom)

BEST STRATEGY GAME:

Civilization 6 (Firaxis Games/2K)

Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)

The Banner Saga 2 (Stoic Studio/Versus Evil)

Total War: Warhammer (Creative Assembly/Sega)

XCOM 2 (Firaxis Games/2K)

Winner: Civilization 6 (Firaxis Games/2K)

BEST FAMILY GAME:

Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix)

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TT Fusion/WBIE)

Pokemon Go (Niantic)

Ratchet & Clank (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Skylanders: Imaginators (Toy for Bob/Activision)

Winner: Pokemon Go (Niantic)

BEST SPORTS/RACING:

FIFA 17 (EA Canada/EA Sports)

Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)

MLB The Show 16 (SCE San Diego Studio/SIE)

NBA 2K17 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)

Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PES Productions/Konami)

Winner: Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)

BEST MULTIPLAYER:

Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)

Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)

Overcooked (Ghost Town Games/Team 17)

Overwatch (Blizzard)

Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME:

God of War (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Mass Effect: Andromeda (Bioware/EA)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

TRENDING GAMER:

AngryJoeShow

Boogie2988

Danny O’Dwyer

JackSepticEye

Lirik

Winner: Boogie2988 ( I honestly have never heard of the guy, guess he’s never heard of us either. So I guess we’re evens there)

BEST ESPORTS PLAYER:

Faker – Lee Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom T1, League of Legends)

Coldzera – Marcelo David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

ByuN –Hyun Woo (Starcraft 2)

Infiltrator – Lee Seeon-woo (Team Razer, Street Fighter V)

Hungrybox – Juan Debiedma (Team Liquid, Super Smash Bros.)

Winner: Coldzera – Marcelo David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

BEST ESPORTS TEAM:

SK Telecom T1 (League of Legends)

Wings Gaming (DOTA2)

SK Gaming

ROX Tigers (League of Legends)

Cloud 9

Winner: Cloud 9

BEST ESPORTS GAME:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)

DOTA2 (Valve)

League of Legends (Riot)

Overwatch (Blizzard)

Street Fighter V (Capcom)

Winner: Overwatch (Blizzard)

The post The Game Awards 2016 Results appeared first on Show Me Games - Independent Gaming Site, and Community.

Playstation VR Impressions

Bonus Nintendo Switch Chat

A Whole New World!!!

On thursday Prof. Pashton had myself (Capt. Hughes) and King Garstang over to have a play around in the world of Playstation VR.  Having had experience in all the more well know VR headsets, we figured it would be  interesting to stream and record our impressions, and compare it to the other VR options on the market.

So how does Playstation VR match up to the the likes of Gear VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and google cardboard (that last one was a joke).  Watch and react. The nintendo stuff is half an hour from the end.

Playstation VR  reviews are coming, check out Here They Lie Review now!

The post Playstation VR Impressions and Nintendo Switch Chat appeared first on Show Me Games - Independent Gaming Site, and Community.