You may not have been able to find a Switch at retailers last month, but plenty of people in the US did. Nintendo of America announced its newest system sold 906,000 units in March according to the NPD Group. This makes the Switch one of the fastest selling consoles in Nintendo's history. No bad for a March launch.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the best selling game for it, moving 925,000 copies. That's right, you read that correctly: Nintendo sold more copies of Breath of the Wild than it did systems that can play it. The Wii U version of the game sold nearly 460,000 copies in March as well.
Nintendo has been proclaiming that the Switch is its fastest-selling console ever since the system launched, but now it has numbers to back that up. Based on NPD reports, it says the Switch sold 906,000 units in the US in March. What's surprising, however, is that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is not just its fastest-selling launch title of all time, its Switch version actually outsold the console, moving 925,000 copies (add 460,000 for the Wii U and you have 1.3 million total).
Looking for something new to play on Nintendo Switch? Just sayin': Kamiko is super cute.
The Skipmore-developed action game launched this week on the Japanese eShop, priced at a meager 500 yen. In it, you'll play as one of three divine maidens as you slice and dice monsters, activate torii, and face bosses. There's also a combo meter to help keep you on your toes.
This is Japan-only for now, but it's not too much trouble to play games cross-region on Switch.
Overwatch debuted another limited-time co-op mode this week called Uprising. If you haven't tried it yet, you should! I got a few rounds in last night and came away more convinced than ever that Blizzard should continue down this path and, ideally, make this and future PvE events permanent.
This new event rewinds the clock seven years to show us Tracer's first mission with Overwatch. A group of "extremist" omnics, Null Sector, are revolting in King's Row. Barring outside intervention (that's where you come in!), it's feared that a new war between humans and omnics could begin.
Uprising is a clear step up from the last PvE mode, Junkenstein's Revenge, which was well-done for what it was: a Halloween-appropriate wave-based survival mode. Here, you'll similarly partner up with three others to fend off lots of enemies -- including familiar faces like Bastion and Orisa -- but it's far more active. Actually, it's about what I'd expect from a level in a potential story campaign.
The gameplay itself in Uprising feels like a mash-up of existing design ideas. You'll weave your way through King's Row to capture and hold points, activate and escort a payload, and take out a few final priority targets, all while various omnic models flood in. But it has that extra layer of polish to feel more substantial than that sounds. It's also easier said than done on Hard difficulty and above.
There are two forms of the mode: one with a limited hero selection (Tracer, Reinhardt, Mercy, and Torbjörn), and another with access to the full roster (expect someone to pick Bastion). Both are found in the Arcade and count toward your weekly Loot Box rewards, so if nothing else, consider playing for a chance at the new Uprising skins and D.Va's play-of-the-game selfie intro. We only have until May 1.
Bandai Namco instructs audiences in North America, Europe, and Japan to "Prepare to Dine" on April 20, 2017. That is when it will be announcing a brand new game, which is teased in this artsy trailer.
Teasing game announcements isn't new, but having a trailer for an upcoming announcement seems just a tad silly. Next these teasers will have teaser of their own, all in attempt to maximize hype and intrigue. Cynicism aside, the art of this teaser is quite alluring and gentle on the eyes, unlike Drawn to Death for example. I wouldn't mind at all if the game looks just like this.
Fez turns five today. And more than just a quick birthday celebration and some reminiscing, Polytron has shared that an iOS version of its perspective-shifting puzzle-platformer is in the works for this year.
I can't say I'm especially interested to play again on an iPad, but the trailer sure is cute.
Over the pastthreedays, I’ve counted down Destructoid’s list of the top 10 games on the Wii U. It was a close vote and several outstanding titles just missed making the cut. Do you agree with us how we voted or is there a game we totally missed?
Now is your chance to voice your opinion in the Destructoid community top 10 Wii U games poll! Use the link at the bottom of the page to fill out your 10 favorite games for the Wii U. It does not matter the order you list them in, just make sure you only list one game per line or it won’t be counted.
Don't have 10 games you like? No problem. You're only required to list a minimum of one game as well as your Destructoid or Disqus username.
To help us tabulate these votes more quickly, please copy and paste the exact title of the game from the list here.
The poll is open until midnight PST on Sunday, April 16 and the results will be posted here sometime next week.
Go ahead and look through our Podtoid Questions tag. There's some real good stuff in there, and I can't top most of it right now. I could've said "Let's chat" or some lazy-ass shit like that, but that's a Total Steven Move. If nothing else, I promise to be ABS (Always Better [than] Steven).
The purpose of this post (apart from slagging Steven) is to let you know that we're recording Podtoid today. We have Sweet Baby Ray on the show. When he's not hocking his sugary barbecue sauce, he's gonna talk about video games, probably. I've been calling him my Sexy Brutale Pal lately so that will definitely be a topic of conversation. That game is good. You should go play it.
But, there's no I in team (except for in this new Rocket League clip of mine) which means we can't do it alone. We need you to ask us some questions or tell us some stories about stuff. We don't really care what it is. Want to know how many scorpions is too many scorpions? Sure, we'll have that talk. Want to tell us about your newfound love of numismatics? God, boring! But, okay, share.
You know what to do, Fellow Disqus Users. Type words in the box below. Or email us. podtoid@destructoid.com. Make it good. Shoot your shot.
Assuming you haven’t already scrolled down to see which title was voted as the greatest Wii U game and are now in the comments letting everyone know if you agree or disagree with us, please let me welcome you to part three of Destructoid’s top 10 Wii U games. For the past two days, I’ve told you about the eight games we found to be the best on the console. It should be no surprise that all of them were published by Nintendo and the top two don't change that trend. As much as we love games like Shovel Knight, Guacamelee, ZombiU, and Steamworld Dig, all of which were named on one or more of the submitted top 10 lists, they couldn’t compete with the affection we have for the games that made it.
This is particularly true of our top two titles, two games that have a lot in common. They both have a strong legion of fans, they both are arguably the best in their genre, they both came out in 2014, and both of them feature a certain angel-killing Umbran Witch.
It's hot stove season for video games -- that time right before any major E3-related announcements happen where everyone's left to speculate what major E3-related announcements will happen. Microsoft fueled the fire a bit last week with a reveal of Project Scorpio's specs. Now, it's most likely staying mum until everyone's gathered in Los Angeles in June.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Xbox head Phil Spencer spent four paragraphs broadly describing how Project Scorpio is tailored toward developers, and one sentence saying "We're excited to unveil Project Scorpio and the amazing game experiences it powers at E3 this June." This isn't goodbye, it's I'll see you later.
And, honestly, this probably is the last we'll hear from Microsoft about Project Scorpio until its June 11 E3 briefing. Now that we know what's inside, the missing pieces of pertinent info are: what it looks like, price, release date, and real name. (Scorpio is practically destined to join Project Natal as technologies whose codenames were way better than their actual names; Scorpio will almost certainly be called something bloodless like "Xbox One Elite.") Those important tidbits all sound like reveals that will be left for the big stage.
Mind you, this won't stop other people (likely including us) from talking about the Scorpio. Speculation is somehow half the process. But Microsoft shouldn't have much more to say apart from the occasional tease because everything that's left is ideal E3 fodder.
Look, I've played tons of great games on every major VR platform, but I'm not delusional about how it's failed to latch on to the industry at large.
Maybe one day if enough people decide they can drop hundreds of bucks on helmets to attach to their multi-hundred buck machines, it'll catch on. There's already a number of "killer apps" for headsets (see the universal beloved Resident Evil 7 on PS4), but that isn't making the big push.
Maybe (the less beloved) Fallout 4 will be different? I don't think so, but AMD vice president Roy Taylor thinks it will. Speaking to MCV, he calls it the "Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog" of VR, claiming that "it will change the way we think about VR," and that it's a "ground-breaking VR title." Problem number one out of the gate? It's going to be an HTC Vive exclusive when it does hit. With an already fragmented landscape it's going to be a hard sell.
What's more promising is that Taylor claims that the next generation of VR will be an easier sell as they move away from wires. According to him AMD already has a solution, and that people will "never tolerate wires again." VR Technology ladies and gentlemen! It does not favor the early adopter.
Good news for those of you who can speak fluent nihongo. In the Japanese Direct yesterday, Nintendo announced that the Sherlock Holmes-inspired The Great Ace Attorney 2 will launch in Japan on August 3, 2017. Of course, you'd need a Japanese 3DS to even play it. More information on the game will be revealed at the April 17 for the 15th anniversary of the series.
Copyright issues surrounding the inclusion of Sherlock Holmes himself are often cited as the main reason we still haven't seen a localization of the first game. Until that is sorted out, I am taking upon myself to make sure no one forgets about these games. A fan translation may be the only option, as with Ace Attorney Investigations 2. That game's fan translation was as good as the real thing, so I have no issue with going that route again.
If you've spent the last few months trying to get your hands on a NES Classic Edition, it's time to give up. Nintendo's tiny, plug-and-play retro console is dead. Or dying, at least. The company says the last shipmenmts to North American territories will reach stores in April, advising buyers to check with their local retailers for availability. In other words, the NES Classic Edition shortage is going away, but only because the product won't exist anymore.
Both Jed and I liked the recently released Yo-Kai Watch 2 Fleshy Souls and Bony Spirits respectively, but just like Pokemon, a third game has risen from the ashes like a phoenix. It's called Psychic Specters, and will function just like the Crystal or Emerald variants have for Nintendo's famous pocket monster series.
Sporting a "fall" release date, it'll sport new Yo-kai creatures, new quests, and another area. There's also the opportunity to befriend bosses and play an enhanced edition of the co-op Blasters mode.
I'm kind of torn on this one, because while I adore the series (and the show/movies), this is a really bold move. Yo-Kai Watch isn't as big in the west, so by releasing a third version of the same iteration, they risk pissing their fanbase off. When Pokemon did it in the second generation of its life-cycle, it was already an international phenomenon that swept the US.
On the other hand, this is the perfect chance for someone to jump in. The sequel basically renders the storyline of the original as defunct, so you can just grab this definitive edition and still get the complete experience up to this point. In the meantime we're still waiting for Yo-Kai Watch 3, which takes place in the US and Japan.
Nintendo told IGN that it will no longer produce the NES Classic Edtion for North America, with the final shipments this month. Nintendo apologized for it being hard to obtain, but that it wasn't meant to be an "ongoing, long-term product." The cancellation extends to the classic controller, but no word was given to its continuation worldwide.
With each new free content update for Titanfall 2, it's as if I can hear the game itself cry out to put down everything else I'm playing and come blow up mechs instead. The next few months will see even more updates, as you'd imagine, and Respawn Entertainment has outlined what we can expect.
From now through June, Titanfall 2 will get:
Two more general multiplayer maps (Glitch, Relic)
Two more Live Fire Maps (Traffic, Deck)
A new Titan
Two more purchasable Prime Titans: Ronin and Tone
Gen cap increase to 100
Expanded Private Match settings including the addition of Live Fire and Coliseum to the selectable modes
A new Faction
Marked for Death game mode
More Pilot executions
Addition refinements to matchmaking like estimated wait time and more
More purchasable camos, skins, etc. from the store
That's a lot to go on, but they're also leaving some of the update plans to our imaginations for the time being. "We'll let you folks speculate as to what else we could be working on..."
We got a good look at Kylo Ren, Yoa, Darth Maul, and Rey in the leaked Star Wars Battlefront 2 trailer, but we'll get to see it in good old HD this weekend.
The official website is up, and EA is teasing a Saturday reveal at 11:30 AM PT. It might be a more polished version than the leak, and we might get more info beyond that CG tease, but EA did not specify what they're showing, so plan accordingly.
As someone who was slightly underwhelmed by the first Battlefront, I hope the team has made more changes than cramming in a heap of iconic characters for folks to ogle at. At the very least a single player component is coming, but I really hope that split-screen support has been expanded beyond the junk that we got last time.
I don't know if Nintendo is trying to ensure the survival of amiibo after the figures started to decline a tad, sales-wise (seeing hundreds of Animal Crossing toys on the shelves not selling was probably not a great feeling), but they're back to their old tricks again.
Ever since April of 2015, the dreaded Wave 4 pre-order debacle, which was the ultimate culmination of poor planning, we've been relatively safe from bullshit. Pretty much every single figure since then has been widely available, even the few characters that were exclusive like Roy (which was up at GameStop for days on end for pre-order, and could be picked up in-store). But after the initial excitement of the unveiling of Bayonetta, Cloud, and Corrin, capped with the brief "oh they're exclusive" statement in passing, there's another layer of crap.
As it turns out, Cloud "Player 2" and Twilight Princess Link are both GameStop exclusives, and you cannot pick them up in-store (like pretty much every other retailer allows you to, including GameStop in the past). Translation: if you want them both, you'll need to pay shipping, which at minimum is around the cost of another figure.
Amazon retains its fickleness when it comes to pre-ordering, as Skyward Sword Link and Corrin "Player 2" are both exclusives, and only have placeholders at this time. I'm sure that like their previous exclusives they'll go on sale and sell out in five minutes.
It's sad to see Nintendo screw up this badly again after they had it under control for so long. These upcoming waves are so convoluted you'll probably need a spreadsheet to figure out how to pick everything up. I'll try to help in the meantime by keeping this list updated.
Level-5 hung up Layton's hat for a bit, but for a series that sold nearly 16 million copies over its lifetime, it would be a bad move to hang it up for good.
It hasn't really been active since 2013, but this July in Japan, Kat Layton (his daughter) will take the spotlight with Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadone's Conspiracy, along with her dog Sharo (who can talk) and her own crew. Based on the trailer it seems to have a different tone that what we've been used to since 2007, so I'm in. A western version is confirmed, but not dated.
All that talk of Layton taking a breather is also a little bit of an exaggeration, as he'll probably appear in Lady Layton, and is confirmed to be present in Layton 7 -- the entry after this one that features seven playable characters.
True story - 11 years ago, I wanted to promote Destructoid at E3 but I couldn't afford a booth. Destructoid booth dreams shattered, I printed out a bunch of flyers to hand out at random in the convention center hallway to get people to check out my blog. I bought the best video card I could afford, a GeForce 7. To get people's attention about my flyers, I made a robot helmet. I also pissed off a lot of people at a press conference by accident, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Yolo Diem.
That said, we're celebrating 11 years of Destructoid and it's big giveaway time! This month you can win a Nintendo Switch system - color of your choice. Your odds of winning are visible this time: your number of entries out of the total entries submitted below.
How to win: Tell a friend about the site with a verified social media profile using Gleam (terms and conditions) and you're in. Gleam will then draw a winner at random, and I'll announce the winner after E3. Good luck!
Nintendo had a big day yesterday with its Switch and 3DS-filled Nintendo Direct (the latter isn't dead!), and a few of their surprises are arriving today.
On Switch you'll find Samurai Shodown IV, Mr. Shifty, Jackbox Party Pack 3, and a demo for Puyo Puyo Tetris. On 3DS you'll be able to grab Bye-Bye-Boxboy, Team Kirby Clash Deluxe (read: a free-to-play version of an existing minigame), Bingo Collection, Pic-a-pix color, Fifteen, Ascent of Kings, and Scoop'n Birds. The Wii U is getting a tiny bit of love too with Pic-a-pix color.
Just a mere month ago THQ Nordic announced Sine Mora EX, a re-release/enhanced version of the 2012 shoot 'em up.
They shared that it was coming to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but now, rather than be left out in the cold like the Wii U was many times before, Nintendo fans heard that lovely phrase last night during the latest Nintendo Direct -- "Switch."
Coming this summer it seems to be basically the same version (with the obvious portability concessions), but you can see for yourself in the trailer below. It's a good one, don't sleep on it!
I'm a huge fan of The Jackbox Party Pack titles as they not only offer up a ton of content that both gamers and non-gamers alike can enjoy, but they prevent your friends and family from just ignoring you and everyone else in the room for whatever bullshit they are looking at on their phones.
Now you can take the third entry in the series on the go with you on your Nintendo Switch, although I'm not quite sure how many people can feasibly play on such a tiny screen. I'll spare you all the details about the games themselves, as Kevin already covered them extensively in his review of the PC version of the game.
According to a Reddit user, Microsoft may be looking to offer self-service refunds for games. The feature, as discovered by user gaymerRaver, apparently enables users that have purchased a game on Xbox One or Windows 10 to get a full refund. There are some caveats, however, including that any title you want to return must have been played for less than two hours.
Since many millions of users still play Pokemon Go every month, odds are you're still following its events, even if it's from a cursory standpoint.
The next one celebrates Easter, and from today starting at 1:00 PM PT until April 20 at the same time, you'll get a "greater variety of Pokemon" from 2 km eggs. You'll also get more candy from eggs, double XP in general, and lucky eggs are 50% off on the marketplace.
As a sort of tip, you can get quad-XP if you use a lucky egg -- so if you've plateaued and haven't found the will to play in a while (or you've been saving up a ton of evolutions to use with a lucky egg), now is the time.
In addition to the four extra characters and the free DLC levels coming to King of Fighters XIV, we're also getting new costumes -- and it looks like a decent amount of effort was put into them. The four that have been revealed by way of a new trailer are "Diabala Angel," "Little Red Riding Hood Sylvie," "Pajamas Meitenkun," (my favorite) and "Sundress Kula Diamond."
KOF XIV is the gift that keeps on giving. If they can have a good showing at EVO this year, I hope more people pick it up.
