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Nintendo Gamescom Video Round-up
Gamescom 2019 has dominated this week’s gaming news since it started on Tuesday, and there might still be some surprises in store before it ends tomorrow.
Nintendo has been pretty busy showing off its upcoming games, so here’s a round-up of all their trailers and announcement videos for your pleasure!
- Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield (GAME FREAK) – A message from GAME FREAK’s Shigeru Ohmori, along with some footage from the Sword & Shield, launching on November 15th, 2019.
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (SEGA Sports R&D) – Nearly half an hour of live footage of the Mario & Sonic-themed Tokyo 2020 tie-in. A much shorter 2D events trailer also aired. The game launches on November 1st across Asia, November 5th and 8th in North America and Europe respectively. It’ll also hit arcades.
- ASTRAL CHAIN (PlatinumGames) – Enjoy over 30 minutes of new gameplay footage from exclusive action heavyweight Astral Chain, with game director Takahisa Taura talking about the Neuron special police task force as well as the game’s environments, puzzles and enemies. It’s out August 30th, 2019.
- DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition (Square Enix) – Series creator Yuji Horii and the game’s producer Hokuto Okamoto spend over half an hour talking about the changes in the enhanced port of Dragon Quest XI. It’s launching on September 27th.
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo / Nintendo) – Another live stream lasting over 30 minutes, this time about the remake of the classic 1993 Game Boy adventure, launching on September 20th.
- Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Next Level Games) – Just shy of 30 minutes with the spooky and slimy Luigi’s Mansion 3, and its more open-ended levels set in a creepy hotel. It will haunt your Switch on October 31st.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition (CD Projekt RED) – Miles Tost presents a live streamed slice of handheld play and explains what the RPG is all about for the uninitiated. Geralt has accepted the contract and the hunt begins on October 15th.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco) – While the game has been out since December last year, Nintendo hosted the ‘GC Invitational 2019’ tournament at Gamescom this week.
Weekly Giveaway
UnderMine!
Time for another great giveaway from your pals at DailyBits! Like the idea of an action-adventure rogue-likes that mixes Legend of Zelda, Binding of Isaac and Rogue Legacy? Then you’ll love exploring the rich subterranean world of UnderMine – available now – and we’ve got 10 Steam codes to hand out to 10 lucky readers!
Please head here to enter this week’s giveaway – and at the end of the week you could be one of the lucky ones to receive a free Steam code!
“UnderMine is an action-adventure roguelike with a bit of RPG tossed in. Blending combat and dungeon crawling from traditional roguelikes like “The Binding of Isaac,” with the progression of roguelites like “Rogue Legacy,” UnderMine delivers a fresh new entry to the genre.
Mine gold on each run and increase the peasant’s power by finding powerful relics. Rescue NPCs and return them to the hub where they will open up shop and offer powerful upgrades for future runs. Delve deeper, exploring each new area, discover its many secrets and ultimately defeat its powerful boss. ”
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Who was the first secret character in a Mortal Kombat game?
- Noob Saibot
- Reptile
- Jade
- Smoke
The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!
News Bits
Shenmue’s Yu Suzuki could return to Virtua Fighter and Out Run
Something is going on behind the scenes at Sega, but Yu Suzuki is keeping the cards close to his chest. He teased that “there might be something” happening with two of the series he used to work on, namely Virtua Fighter and OutRun.
Sega is no stranger to working with partners, even on core IP, and Suzuki retains close ties to the company as a special consultant – but right now, he’s busy bringing Shenmue III to PC and PlayStation 4 on November 19th with his new company YS Net.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne gets chilly trailer and dev diary
The upcoming expansion Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is almost here and to help you avoid the frostbite of ignorance, Capcom have released two new videos.
The first one is a trailer focusing on the Old Everwyrm and the Brachydios, while the second is an almost hour-long developer diary featuring Capcom’s Ryozo Tsujimoto, Kaname Fujioka and Daisuke Ichihara explaining what’s coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6th and to PC in 2020.
Daily Fact
Want kids to read? Give them games!
An experiment conducted in US public libraries allowed videogames to invade these traditionally quiet temples to the written word. It might sound odd, but the promise of interactive fun has lured the younger crowd back into the libraries – and they check out more books than before the scheme started.
While libraries are not exactly turning into arces, they recognise that getting the kids and teens to even enter the library is half the battle. There’s no guarantee that the books will be the main attraction for everyone, but the numbers are looking pretty good!
Particularly boys have been drawn to libraries like moths to the proverbial flame, especially after library cards started advertising the fact you could check out games for a week at a time.
Sssshhh!
You might start out with some friendly Mario Kart with your new bookworm friends, and then check out Mario’s memoirs detailing his struggles to save not just Princess Peach, but the Mushroom Kingdom – and before you know it, you’re wearing a beret and having philosophical discussions about how Mario games are really just a metaphor for the struggles we all face in our daily lives! Or, y’know, just play Fortnite until way past bedtime and then copy-paste your book report from Wikipedia. If there’s one thing videogames teach you, it’s to exploit where possible.