Top Story
Switch Lite sales made up of 57 percent new users, and more females
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa reveals the opening sales data for Nintendo Switch Lite is split between 43 percent being existing Nintendo owners, and 57 percent all-new registered users.
Interestingly they’ve also seen more first-time female buyers with Switch Lite than before. The data is collected via users registering a Nintendo account for the first time via whatever console or handheld they’ve purchased. Studies have shown female gamers tend to favour more mobile gaming habits, which makes the Switch Lite an enticing option.
Switch Lite is a single contained device with no detachable Joy-Cons
“I would say Nintendo Switch Lite generating its own demand, without negatively impacting sales trends for Nintendo Switch,” said Shuntaro Furukawa. “Among these consumers buying Nintendo Switch Lite as a second system, some are doing so to supplement a single Nintendo Switch console shared among the family, while others are opting to buy Nintendo Switch Lite as a compact, lightweight system to take on the go.”
Nintendo will be pushing for more in-store and public demos of the new Switch Lite as hands-on time gives a “deeper understanding” of the handheld. The original Switch also has a handheld mode whereas Switch Lite is a dedicated mobile platform. They will also look at more handheld franchises as Switch Lite sold almost 2 million units in 11 days since September 20.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
In which Diablo game did the Secret Cow Level first appear?
- Diablo
- Diablo: Hellfire
- Diablo II
- Diablo III
The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!
News Bits
Death Stranding review round-up
Hideo Kojima’s latest creation Death Stranding is hitting PlayStation 4 November 8, 2019 with a PC release later in Q2 2020. It’s an action game in an open world about reconnecting isolated cities and a fragmented society, with actors Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen among its cast. Here’s what the critics have to say:
- Push Square (Score 10/10) – ”Following years of mysterious anticipation, Death Stranding delivers on all fronts. An accomplished, fascinating set of gameplay mechanics allow you to make deliveries the way you want to, while social features let the game live on once you’ve put the controller down. It may become slightly tiresome as you hit the halfway mark, but the phenomenal narrative is on hand to pick things back up again and its outstanding visuals are the cherry on top. Death Stranding doesn’t raise the bar for any particular genre, it creates an entirely new one.”
- TheSixthAxis (Score 10/10) – ”Death Stranding is like nothing I have ever played; beautiful, heart racing, heart breaking, frustrating, epic, stunning, and utterly nuts. I laughed, I cried, I cursed, and I went to the toilet an awful lot. Death Stranding isn’t just my Game of the Year, it’s a contender for Game of the Generation too.”
- EGM (Score 5/5) – ”In the end, Death Stranding’s biggest mystery isn’t any of the elements we’ve had teased in three-plus years of trailers—it’s what people are going to think of it. Even from a man known for making love-them-or-hate-them projects, this may end up being one of the most divisive games ever created. For me, it was an experience that I can truly say was unlike any other I remember. And, if nothing else, Death Stranding makes me respect Hideo Kojima for convincing Sony to invest millions into a game that’s about a man delivering packages to holograms.”
- Daily Star (Score 5/5) – ”Death Stranding is the most unique big-budget game I’ve ever played, a socially-minded injection of inventive ideas into a genre that has long survived by being lazy and brutish. This ambitious formula-flipper is brimming with empathy and carefully courts cinematic influences, an ensemble cast and a world of eye-watering scale, delivering a sticky gameplay loop to tie it all together and create a console generation-defining experience.”
- PlayStation Lifestyle (Score 9.5/10) – ”Death Stranding is not a “fun” game, but it’s an important and meaningful experience that earns its payoff through every bit of frustration and slog. Its a look at life and death, connection and solitude; a game about building up what matters most and supporting each other selflessly. You’ll be bored at times and downright frustrated at others, but it comes with a great reward at the end that is made sweeter by the trials that precede it. It’s brilliantly unique in its design and implementation of online elements.”
- Gamespot (Score 9/10) – ”Death Stranding is a hard game to absorb. There are many intertwining threads to its plot, and silly names, corny moments, and heavy exposition belie an otherwise very simple message. That comes through much more clearly in the game’s more mundane moments, when you find a desperately-needed ladder left behind by another player or receive a letter from an NPC thanking you for your efforts. It’s positive without ignoring pain; in fact, it argues in both its story and its gameplay that adversity itself is what makes things worth doing and life worth living. It’s a game that requires patience, compassion, and love, and it’s also one we really need right now.”
- VideoGamer (Score 8/10) – ”Death Stranding is filled with things that must be seen, a sprawling, genre-spanning sci-fi adventure from a developer like no other. It’s tackier clumps of writing and stunt casting seem overwrought, but its direction and its stars shine brightest.”
- PlayStation Universe (Score 8/10) – ”Death Standing proves itself as a unique, palpable new IP, filled with rich storytelling both in narrative and gameplay. The beginning of the game suffers from long gaps of time intended for learning the ropes, but the ship rights itself once it finally turns the corner. Despite that with a handful of missteps, a deep, potent message of coming together rings through every aspect of Death Stranding that dazzles the game as a whole. If you give it the time, Death Stranding will offer you something most games never do.”
- Destructoid (Score 8/10) – ”Death Stranding is not the overly-strange inaccessible walled garden the marketing campaign has made it out to be.”
- Game Informer (Score 7/10) – ”The real issue is that Death Stranding’s gameplay really is as simple as it appears to be, and the elements around it – the story, combat, and lackluster mission objectives – aren’t satisfying enough to anchor the title and get players invested.”
- GamesRadar+ (Score 3.5/10) – ”Kojima’s mysterious would be epic has its moments but can’t carry the weight of expectation.”
- IGN (Score 6.8/10) – ”There is a fascinating, fleshed-out world of supernatural science fiction to enjoy across its sprawling and spectacular map, so it’s a real shame that it’s all been saddled on a gameplay backbone that struggles to adequately support its weight over the full course of the journey.”
Bluepoint Games with a cryptic and spooky Halloween tweet
Someone’s got a candy-induced sugar rush over at Bluepoint Games as their official Twitter has just made a reference to some major game franchises all in one go. In one tweet they’ve mentioned: symphony, shadow, resistance, black monsters, twisted hills, syphon souls, soft from solid, eco-friendly and metal. All these touch on a particular franchise or two, and they’ve got an unannounced PlayStation 5 title in the works.
Daily Fact
Nintendo wasn’t bananas for a Diddy Kong Racing sequel
There was going to be a sequel to 1997’s Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64. One was first announced in 2001 at E3 and was in development by Rare for the Nintendo GameCube, however it was more of a loose follow-up called Donkey Kong Racing and was expected in 2002. It never materialised though and Rare was bought by Microsoft in 2002 so they moved on.
Another chance for Diddy Kong Racing to return with a sequel was in 2004 when another British developer, Climax Studios, who came up with the idea of Diddy Kong Racing Adventure. The premise was Wizpig would be seeking revenge on Diddy and his friends by teaming up with the Kremlings and turning Kongo Isle into a series of race tracks. Climax showed their idea to Nintendo, but they didn’t bite.
Daily News
ZeniMax owes refunds to some Australian Fallout 76 owners
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has concluded that Bethesda Softworks’ parent company ZeniMax was at fault over the debacle that was Fallout 76 during its opening months.
“ZeniMax has acknowledged that they are likely to have misled certain Australian consumers about their rights to a refund when they experienced faults with their Fallout 76 game,” ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said in a statement. This decision affects anyone who sought a refund between 24 November 2018 and 1 June 2019, as they are now eligible.
Country Roads, take me home…
“When a consumer buys a product it comes with automatic consumer guarantees, and retailers must ensure their refunds and returns policies do not misrepresent what the Australian Consumer Law provides,” continued Ms Court. Bethesda initially processed those seeking a refund of Fallout 76, but as more started demanding their money back the company shut down the process, in clear violation of consumer protection laws in some nations.
“When a consumer has purchased a product that has a fault which amounts to a major failure, the Australian Consumer Law provides them with the right to ask for their choice of either a repair, replacement or refund.” ZeniMax also claim they are addressing the concerns raised by the ACCC over their customer service procedures and training — compliance with the law hopefully thrown in for good measure.
Ubisoft reportedly moves away from ‘mechanics homogenisation’ in its games
You might think Ubisoft’s latest additions to its big name brands were getting a bit too much like one another; all going open world, all adopting loot systems and RPG mechanics etc. Ubisoft tends to agree with this assessment.
It’s why they will now apparently be changing up their internal ‘approval process’ for a project, with emphasis shifting to ‘unique selling points’ and not just blending systems together. This abrupt change of direction comes in the wake of Ghost Recon Breakpoint performing very poorly and the backlash it got for introducing too many mechanics that ‘didn’t fit the series’.
Open world? Check. Radio towers? Check. 900 collectibles? Check.
Ubisoft has also announced it would be delaying the releases of three upcoming projects, which includes the new Watch Dogs Legion, Gods and Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine. Some of Ubisoft’s big name franchises have thrived under major system overhauls, like Assassin’s Creed which has become an RPG series with dialogue choices and story consequences.
Kotaku’s Jason Schreier claims that “Ubisoft is changing their mentality big time,” following Breakpoint. “Now it’s all about… you have to pitch your game as being super unique, having a unique aspect to it.” Ubisoft has even mocked its own overly used game systems in the past, with the latest Far Cry 5 cracking a joke about having to climb radio towers yet again to uncover the game world.
