Top Story
Nintendo will stick to online events until the COVID-19 pandemic is over
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed that there are still no plans for any offline events or shows until the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
That means Nintendo will stick to Nintendo Direct streams for the time being, which doesn’t bother Nintendo since they’re a highly effective way to communicate with their fans and customers.
Drift apology: Shuntaro Furukawa also recognized and apologized for Joy-Con drift, a design problem that causes some analogue sticks to register erroneous input.
Class-action: Nintendo is currently embroiled in a class-action lawsuit over Joy-Con drift, and are accused of knowing about the problem but not recalling or replacing stock. To make amends, Nintendo will repair or replace faulty units.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Which Famicom game asks players to sing and scream into their controllers?
- Time Warp Tickers
- Quantum Fighter
- Banishing Racer
- Takeshi’s Challenge
The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.
Daily Fact
Apogee’s Wolfenstein 3D competitions were all ruined by cheaters and mods
Wolfenstein 3D featured a virtual treasure hunt, with a message hidden at the end of a tricky maze in the eighth stage of the second episode: “Call Apogee and say Aardwolf”.
In later versions the text was replaced by a pile of bones or the maze was simply walled off. Apogee was forced to cancel the competition because cheat tools and map editors appeared shortly after launch, making the challenge too easy.
Apogee also tried to hold a high-score contest where players could submit verifiable codes, but it was still possible to cheat so this idea was scrapped too.
Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.
Catan: World Explorers AR
Catan: World Explorers from Niantic
Niantic has announced an AR version of famous board game Settlers of Catan named Catan: World Explorers which uses the real world as a board.
Like Pokémon Go, Catan: World Explorers will use smartphones to tie the game into real-world locations via an online platform that “transforms the entire Earth into one giant game of CATAN.”
Trade and build: Collect wheat, wood, brick, ore and wool to expand your settlements and trade with other players. You can also play in teams by forming factions.
Pre-registeration: You can earn victory points on both the local and global level to boost your faction’s score and “win rewards that follow you into future seasons!” Pre-registration just opened today.
Nintendo Game Codes
Nintendo doesn’t want anyone selling their first-party games on the cheap
Nintendo has just decided to ban all European, Middle-Eastern and African retailers from selling download codes for their first-party games.
That means outlets like ShopTo.net can no longer sell codes for games published by Nintendo, and leaves the Nintendo eShop as the only authorized retailer. Third-party releases remain unaffected.
Digital monopoly: Retailers usually undercut the eShop on price, most likely hurting Nintendo’s own direct sales. This decision was reached after “careful examination of the evolving European marketplace in recent years,” according to Nintendo. You will still be able to buy Switch Online memberships, eShop funds and other add-ons from independent retailers.
EMEA sale ban: “…due to a Nintendo decision for all EMEA territories, as from Tomorrow 30/06/20 at 23:00 we are no longer able to offer/sell Nintendo digital full games,” stated ShopTo. The ban does not affect physical copies of Nintendo first-party games, so retailers are still free to compete with the eShop on price – if not convenience.
