Top Story
Loads of exciting Switch re-releases, including Doom 64, Jedi Knight 2 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
We’re still combing through the insane number of announcements in last night’s Nintendo Direct, and there was a ton of exciting news – so it’s kind of surprising that some of the big show’s big attention-grabbers were a bunch of re-releases. A huge number of games are getting ported to Switch, and you should definitely be excited for many of them!
Obviously, we don’t need to tell you to look forward to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, since everyone already knows about it and are basically holding their breath waiting for October 15th. So let’s look at some of the new surprise announcements instead:
- Doom 64 – This Nintendo 64 exclusive interpretation of Doom was released 22 years ago, and it’s a totally unique and original entry in the classic series. Unlike the other console versions, it’s not a port! It’s got new and redesigned monsters and weapons, and sports an atmosphere all its own. It’s coming to Switch the same day as Doom Eternal, November 22th.
- Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy – The two Raven-developed Jedi Knight games are some of the finest Star Wars games ever made, and certainly the best lightsaber’em-ups around – although we’re hoping Jedi Fallen Order could surpass them. Jedi Outcast is out on September 24th, while Academy will be out next year.
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore – This weird Wii U title is a crossover between the Shin Megami Tensei series (which includes Persona) and Fire Emblem, so fans of either franchise should be getting weak in the knees for this one . It’ll boast new new features, and is out on January 17th.
- Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition – another Wii U RPG that also made an appearance on 3DS but will obviously be best on Switch. It’s out in 2020, so don’t play that sequel just yet!
- Deadly Premonition – There’s more about this in the news bits, but the original wacky Twin Peaks-inspired detective game is out now. It’s not for everyone, but if you want quirk, this’ll quirk the F-K out of your coffee.
- Return of the Obra Dinn – featuring weird monochrome graphics this mystery game from the creator of Papers, Please is probably the greatest detective game ever made. It’s out later this year.
- Assassin’s Creed: Rebel Collection – Consisting of the two pirate-y adventures Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed Rogue, this collection packs two of the finest pirate simulators ever made and is out on December 6th.
- Overwatch – Do we really need to introduce Overwatch? This character-based multiplayer shooter is almost as popular as Fortnite. It’s out on October 15th.
- Trials of Mana – Strictly speaking this is a remake – and not a re-release – of the third game in the Seiken Densetsu series, which never got released outside Japan. It will be available April 24 next year, and it looks pretty exciting – certainly better than the Secret of Mana 3D remake.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
What classic RPG franchise is Divinity creator Larian Studios working on?
- Fallout
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Baldur’s Gate
- Icewind Dale
The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!
News Bits
Deadly Premonition 2 announced for Switch, probably a timed exclusive
Last night’s Nintendo Direct surprised everyone by revealing that Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise is coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch in 2020. The first game is available on Nintendo eShop today.
Developer Rising Star suggests that it will only be a Switch exclusive “at launch”, which could well mean that Deadly Premonition 2 will appear on other platforms later. If you’re into weird, insane, slightly infuriating but oddly compelling adventures, that’s very good news.
Daily Fact
There’s an official Half-Life expansion you probably haven’t played
Half-Life is one of the most important and popular games ever made, and it has a rabid fan base that helped turn Steam into the Genghis Khan of PC gaming. There aren’t particularly many Half-Life games, and fans have pretty much gnawed their bones clean by now – with one exception!
You’ve probably picked up that the official Half-Life expansions Opposing Force and Blue Shift were developed by Gearbox before Borderlands made them famous – but did you know they also made a third Half-Life expansion called Decay, which was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in 2001?
Half-Life: Decay is unusual for several reasons: It has two female protagonists, and it’s a co-op game with heavy emphasis on puzzles. Almost sounds a bit like Portal 2’s multiplayer, right? It’s a fun little expansion, even featuring a secret level where you play as vortigaunt aliens. There is a fan-made PC port, but we’d love to see an official remaster too.
eSports Roundup
CS:GO $5M ESL Pro Tour Announced
ESL and DreamHack have just announced plans for the ESL Pro Tour, a huge circuit including twenty CS:GO tournaments that will feature a prize pool of over $5 million. The twenty events will be split into three tiers: Open, Challenger and Masters. Teams will be able to secure a spot in the Masters tiers by accumulating points from wins in the Open and Challenger tournaments.
This partnership means that ESL One, Intel; Extreme Masters; ESL Pro League; DreamHack Open and DreamHack Masters now form one big tournament ecosystem that will eventually lead to two Masters Championships in IEM Katowice and ESL One Cologne. It’ll be interesting to see how ESL and DreamHack compromise on some of the rules in their respective tournaments to ensure this all runs smoothly.
Wattson nerfs confuse casuals
The recent Apex Legends content patch brought a number of changes, including a brand new location, a limited event and a double XP weekend. One of the big surprises in this update was that new character Wattson was nerfed. The adjustments restricts the Wattson to deploying a single pylon, and she now takes 5% more damage.
A lot of casual players have expressed confusion abpit why Respawn would nerf a character who was picked so rarely. Turns out Wattson is extremely popular at the highest levels of play, and gives squads a massive boost when the game reaches the last few circles. While this doesn’t really affect casual players, we should see a significant change in tactics in high-level play when the circles begin to close in.
Role Queue in Overwatch Season 18
Blizzard introduced role queues for competitive play last month, forcing players to pick their chosen role (Tank, Damage or Support) before committing to a ranked game. This role queue feature is finally coming out of the beta phase and has now been officially added to the game at the beginning of Season 18.
Both casual and hardcore players have been excited about the role queue for a long time since it brings some much-needed consistency to team compositions. Players will no longer have to worry about imbalanced teams and constant role changing.
No CoD in 2020 for 100 Thieves
American eSports organisation 100 Thieves has announced that they will not be participating in the Call of Duty eSports scene in 2020 when it moves to a franchising model. The current system operates on a merit-based system in which teams qualify for the CWL by earning points in tournaments. The shift to a franchise model means that eSports organisations will be able to purchase permanent spots to guarantee exposure for the entirety of the event, as well as having to adhere to certain standards such as minimum salaries and benefits for players.
In ‘A Message to the Call of Duty Community’, 100 Thieves CEO Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag announced that “100 Thieves will not be a part of competitive Call of Duty next year”. “We will not be a part of the CDL, we will not a have a team competing for our brand, and – I wouldn’t say this is the end of my participation and 100 Thieves’ participation in Call of Duty – but we will not be fielding a roster.” Haag outlined how expensive the CDL is and how 100 Thieves is not equipped or prepared to make that commitment yet. Currently, just nine teams have signed up for CWL.
