Earlier this week, The Pokémon Company tweeted out that a Pokémon Presents Direct was coming on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, at 6:00 a.m. PDT. For those not in the know, this means that they will be showcasing their latest products coming over the next year featuring several trailers.
Continue reading Reminder: There’s a Pokemon Presents Coming soonTag Archives: Switch
Smash Ultimate Tips: Your Heart, Your Guts, and Your Mind
When you improve in a game you love, what comes to mind? Do you see yourself mentally learning to prepare better strategies like in a game like chess? Or do you see yourself powering up and ascending to new heights akin to a fighter in Dragon Ball Z?
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Nintendo rejecting profit margin report highlights reporting failures
Nintendo just recently came out and debunked an inaccurate article from Bloomberg about their profit margins on the new Nintendo Switch OLED. This comes on the heels of many news sites drumming up rabid fervor for the imminent announcement of the new, high powered “Switch Pro,” a piece of hardware that has not been announced by Nintendo. A piece of hardware for which no official evidence actually exists.
Understandably, gamers that listened to these articles promising the new model Switch would have 4K resolution, DLSS, and the power of a PlayStation 7 in portable form were somewhat disappointed by the slight upgrade that is the Nintendo Switch OLED. Some gamers, the kind we call idiots, took it out on Nintendo, a company that never announced or hinted at a Switch Pro and simply went with the same mid generation refresh they’ve done for every single one of the handhelds. Smart gamers, however, have turned on the “journalists” and rumor mongers that spiraled this situation out of control with their constant games of telephone and one-upsmanship.
Let’s take a step back, and look at this situation, and we’ll give you some insider knowledge from our years of experience in games journalism.
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Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has shipped over 1 Million units
Capcom, via the official Monster Hunter twitter account, has recently come out and confirmed that Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has shipped over 1 million copies worldwide. The game has been out on Nintendo Switch and PC for a little over a week at this point, and it has already doubled the lifetime sales of the 3DS and mobile versions of the original MHS combined. This is a great milestone for a series that we hope continues to grow.
The team even shared a lovely piece of art in celebration:
Continue reading Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has shipped over 1 Million units
The Most Iconic Female Video Game Characters by generation
Despite what some may have you believe, women have been in video games from the start, and while not always the main stars, they have always left an impression on gamers. In fact, there have been so many famous ladies in gaming, that this list has caused quite a free-for-all here behind the scenes. So get out your flame shield while we cover the ground rules.
First off, we’re starting with the third generation and only counting home consoles, because that’s when characters became less abstract, allowing them to be more recognizable on their own, and gaming came back to life after the great video game crash of 1983. This is important, because iconic is a balancing act between fame, recognition, and excellence. Some characters may be from games that sold far better, and were of higher quality, but you wouldn’t be able to pick them out from a crowd, often by design, so they didn’t make the list. If you don’t like it, feel free to let us know in the comments section below. Furthermore, there can only be one most iconic female character per generation, and that character can only make the list once.
Remember, this list is just our opinion, so don’t get your jimmies too rustled as we go forward.
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Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is what Pokemon should have been
In 2017, Capcom released Monster Hunter Stories, a game that many overlooked due simply to the fact it was tied to the dying Nintendo 3DS in the Switch Era. It had its flaws, mostly due to a seemingly random combat system that punished players for not knowing very specific patterns, as well as the Monster customization options essentially being locked away until the end game. Let’s not even mention the terrible 3DS resolution. Despite this, Monster Hunter Stories was modern Capcom‘s respectable first stab at the Pokemon clone genre.
Fortunately, the lower than expected sales of this first entry didn’t doom the spin-off to oblivion. Some fine tuning of the combat mechanics, a slightly more matured story, a more palatable art direction, and some HD graphics slapped on to boot, and Capcom would have a Pokemon clone capable of generating decent sales. But they didn’t stop there…
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Why Metroid Dread sales will top the series best
Yoshio Sakamoto and Mercury Steam share a historical quirk: Both infamously made the games they wanted to make, executing their goals to their own satisfaction, only for the negative fan reception to completely blindside them. Between them, they laid to rest the two series for which the Metroidvania genre is named.
Sakamoto helmed the poorly received Metroid: Other M , the infamous game that put Metroid on metaphorical rails and lead to the Metroid franchise going dormant. Yet in spite of its notably large flaws, it was clearly the game he wanted to make, going so far as to say he wouldn’t change anything about it. On the other end, Mercury Steam made Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, a competent game that developed smoothly and was what the team wanted to make, but lacked focus and wasn’t what fans expected. It was the last Castlevania game before the series also went dormant. Both titles also suffered from their release window being at the end of their respective platforms’ lifespans. However, Metroid Dread is a perfect confluence of events to create a new break out entry for the underappreciated legacy franchise.
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Fortnite on Nintendo Switch: Right game, right platform, right time
As time goes on, it seems the leak revealing Fortnite for Nintendo Switch is all but confirmed. We’ll know for certain in roughly 10 days when Nintendo gives its E3 2018 Direct, but until then, can we talk about how big of a win Fortnite on Switch would be for fans and Nintendo? Continue reading Fortnite on Nintendo Switch: Right game, right platform, right time
Blasphemy: I enjoy Breath of the Wild more because it lacks dungeons
In the lead up to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I went back and played all of the 3D Zelda titles I hadn’t actually completed: Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Though I wasn’t a fan of how the games became slower to start with each successive iteration’s expansion of boring tutorials, I enjoyed them all very much. I’d say Majora’s Mask was the best, followed by Skyward Sword, and then Twilight Princess (If that order triggers you, hold onto your butts, because this isn’t the most controversial claim I’m going to make). Continue reading Blasphemy: I enjoy Breath of the Wild more because it lacks dungeons
Nintendo is killing it with their Switch Era characters
Nintendo has been killing it with their new characters and designs since the start of the Nintendo Switch Era. Their designs have always been consistently good, but in the past four months they’ve introduced no less than 15 characters that have gone over extremely well, with Minmin, Twintelle, and now Marina going viral. Of their long list of great new characters/designs, only Link and Zelda were characters that existed before the Nintendo Switch’s release. Continue reading Nintendo is killing it with their Switch Era characters
Common Sense Gaming 