#26: Switch Lite Revealed!

Top Story

Nintendo Switch Lite is revealed and it’s “dedicated to handheld play”

It’s finally been revealed! Nintendo has announced their latest Switch family addition and it’s called the Nintendo Switch Lite. Simply put, it’s a handheld: No need for a docking station, no detachable JoyCons, just a plain and simple all-in-one console – with a D-pad!

Aside from the new D-pad, there is not much else that’s new: The handheld is going to be available in three different colours at launch; yellow, grey and turquoise, and the device appears to be slightly smaller than its older sibling – oh, and the IR motion camera and HD rumble feature from the stand-alone JoyCons will be missing from the Lite models integrated ones.

No Switch family divorce – all can play together

Obviously the Nintendo Switch Lite is fully compatible with the Nintendo Switch, so they won’t be splitting up the Switch family. Their announcement video is full of portable Switch and Switch Lite handhelds used together to emphasise the point. No custody battles for Smash Bros. Ultimate needed.

The Lite won’t connect to a TV, since it’s meant to be a handheld console and not a replacement for the original Switch. Since the IR motion camera is missing from the Lite, you’ll need additional Joy-Cons for any game that requires motion control such as 1-2 Switch. Otherwise, any Switch title that supports handheld mode is playable on Lite.

Nintendo Switch Lite will launch September 20, 2019.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Which of these other major free-to-play games has the biggest connection to Warframe?

• Fortnite by Epic Games
• Apex Legends by Respawn Entertainment
• Eve Online by CCP Games
• Pokemon Go by Niantic

The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!

News Bits

Pokémon GO should top $3 billion by end of 2019

Trainers going about their day with that Gotta Catch ‘Em All mentality helped Pokémon GO rake in over $800 million in revenue last year, and the year before that it managed a whopping $1.8 billion in revenue – and so far this year, it’s made $395 million. All this before it’s officially launched in China. Pokémon GO is on course to top $3 billion by the end of 2019.

Grand Theft Auto V near-miss clip catches out Pakistan politician

Thinking he was praising an airline pilot’s heroic skills, Pakistan’s secretary general Awami Tehreek had posted a clip of someone piloting a passenger jet taking off just before they would have struck a fuel tanker on the runway. Luckily it had never happened as it was from Grand Theft Auto V’s Los Santos International Airport.

Daily Fact

Nolan Bushnell founded Atari, but he also founded Chuck E. Cheese’s

That mad genius Nolan Bushnell, who turned down a third ownership offer of Apple for just $50k (oops), went and founded Atari in June 1972 – a real grandfather of a company within the videogames industry. The man also founded the Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza-Time Theaters back in May 1977, which would become a restaurant chain across America.

What better way to get those kids hooked on Atari games than at a kid’s pizza restaurant full of arcade games, prizes and even musical animatronic performances? Those came about because of his admiration for Walt Disney and what he had accomplished with his theme parks. It was the perfect marriage of games, pizza and parents desperate to placate hungry offspring.

Today there are over 500 Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants still in operation across the US, although they have phased out using animatronics in favour of modern dance floors.

Weekly Deals

What are ya buyin’?

This week’s hottest deals are all about those sweet AAA titles, across a wide range of genres! If you enjoy playing Apex Legends and love Pathfinder’s sweet grappling skills then it’s about time you checked out Titanfall 2. If you’re looking for something darker to scare you to sleep, Resident Evil 2 or Bloodborne may be more up your alley. Whatever your taste, we’ve got something for you here.

Pokémon Shield + Steelbook and In-Game Tracksuit (Nintendo Switch) £39.85 @ ShopTo

Far Cry Primal & Far Cry 4 – Double Pack (Xbox One) £12.99 @ Geek Store

Titanfall 2 (Xbox One) £2.95 @ The Game Collection

Witcher 3 GOTY Edition (PS4/Xbox One) £12.95 @ The Game Collection

Bloodborne (PlayStation Hits) (PS4) £8.85 @ Base

Starcraft 2 Battle Chest 2.0 (PC) £9.99 @ CDKeys

Resident Evil 2 (PC) £18.99 @ CDKeys

Getting 28% off when you pre-order Shield is a particularly good deal, especially when you consider that Nintendo Switch games don’t really drop their prices that quickly.

Daily News

Fire Emblem: Three Houses kicks warfare up a notch with console return

It’s been over 10 years since a Fire Emblem game was released for a home console. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is coming to Nintendo Switch and this will be a great opportunity for Koei Tecmo and Intelligent Systems to find new fans.

Director Genki Yokota admitted in an interview with RPG Site; it’s “big pressure for us!” – Fellow director Toshiyuki Kusakihara of Intelligent Systems also found it quite the challenge. “…the hurdle we had to cross was very high. Gamers are very impassioned – they’ve been waiting for this for such a long time,” he said. One big challenge was simply the change in size of the screen, which meant players would want more action.

Back to school – only there’s more war and magic

They decided with Three Houses it was time to implement something they’d been meaning to for a while; battalions. “When you’re in a battle against someone, up until now it was just one-on-one battles. That worked on a smaller screen, but we thought maybe for the new game generation it was too simple,” explained Genki Yokota. Finally they can show the full scope of the war being fought!

Toshiyuki Kusakihara also revealed he was the director for the cancelled Fire Emblem project for Nintendo Wii, and that’s when he met Genki Yokota. The big new design element in Three Houses, the school where the three houses are found, was also inspired by an earlier Fire Emblem – Genealogy of the Holy War – and not more current franchises like the Persona series or even Harry Potter’s Hogwarts. “So we had the image of this old game in mind before – that’s maybe our most significant influence on this project,” said Kusakihara.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses launches for Nintendo Switch on July 26, 2019.

FFXIV’s Naoki Yoshida would “drop everything” for a crack at Diablo 4

Producer and director Naoki Yoshida of Final Fantasy XIV admits he harbours one hell of a love for Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo series, and jokingly admits he’d probably “drop everything” for the chance to work on it. Don’t worry though, he’d settle for a FFXIV cross-over featuring Diablo or World of Warcraft instead.

The Final Fantasy MMO is no stranger to cross-over events, although these are usually based on the Final Fantasy series. They recently brought the Regalia from Final Fantasy XV into the online RPG, while the latest expansion Shadowbringers also features a raid designed by Nier: Automata’s Yoko Taro.

A FFXIV and Diablo cross-over? It’s one hell of a wish…

Fans of Naoki Yoshida’s work on FFXIV shouldn’t get too alarmed, as he’s very busy at Square Enix developing the next big expansion. Blizzard’s plans for Diablo 4 remain a big fat question mark, although the studio recently showed the project to their European teams. Meanwhile, World of Warcraft is going back to basics with the WoW Classic re-launch.

Final Fantasy XIV quite infamously went through a major overhaul after launch: The game was effectively remade and relaunched after an initially disastrous reception from press and fans. At that point Naoki Yoshida took the helm of FFXIV and decided to shut down servers completely before eventually relaunching the MMO as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

News Bits

Stranded Sails also marooned on Nintendo Switch this October

Prepare to get stuck on mysterious islands in Stranded Sails, an open-world farming and survival adventure where a ship’s crew must make a new life for themselves after a shipwreck. As the son of the gravely ill captain, you will be organising the crews’ new duties ashore. There are quests, puzzles, adventure and crops to grow. It’s coming to Switch and PC in October.

Taiwan rates new Super Monkey Ball for PC, PS4 and Switch

Those pesky rating boards have done it again, revealing a new game ahead of its announcement – this time it’s Taiwan messing up. A new Super Monkey Ball from SEGA will be coming to PC, PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch. The translation seems to suggest it might be oriented around food – but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s true, or a load of bananas.

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Which of these other major free-to-play games has the biggest connection to Warframe?

Answer: Fortnite!

There are a lot of big free-to-play games out there, and despite being nominally free, they’re raking in the cash! But what is the connection between the biggest F2P game of the moment, Fortnite, and Warframe? The answer is their developers: Epic Games and Digital Extremes, who were basically partners for over ten years!

Their relationship goes all the way back to 1993 when Digital Extremes’ first title Solar Winds – a top-down space combat game, published by Epic – and continued through the development of the successful Unreal and Unreal Tournament series that gave Epic’s famous game engine its name. The two companies were pretty much like peas in a pod. However, after Unreal Tournament 2004, Digital Extremes decided they were going to go it alone. They’ve done alright for themselves.

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