Spiritfarer Debuts at Xbox E3 2019 Briefing

“Welcome to the big show.”

These were the first words I heard when I walked into rehearsals. We were about to announce our studio’s third game, Spiritfarer, on the biggest stage in the world: E3.

My name is Will Dubé, and I’m the founder of Thunder Lotus Games. Five years ago, I quit my job to put an indie game on Kickstarter. Today, I’m writing to you from beautiful Los Angeles as we introduce our new game, Spiritfarer, to the world on the biggest stage in gaming.

Spiritfarer is a cozy management game about dying. It’s a game about heritage and what you leave behind. It’s about relationships you create and care for, and the bitter-sweetness of saying goodbye. We’ve all grieved the passing of a loved one. We know that with time, the sadness will pass, and the good times remembered. A laugh, a smile, a thought. This is what the game strives for and why we think it needs to exist. These universal experiences tie us together and make us fundamentally human. They are important emotions that are often held back, or pushed aside in this crazy world we live in.

Spiritfarer holds a special place in my heart. It’s the polar opposite of our previous game, Sundered, and a huge creative risk for our studio. There is no violence in the game, no fail states. You can progress faster or more slowly. I like to joke that the game is rated C for cozy. Its focus is on the Spirits and your relationship to them. What are their final requests? How can you accomplish them? What does it mean to you? To them? How to you choose to build your boat and embark on this adventure? What will you leave behind?

We hope that you’re as excited as we are to bring Spiritfarer into the world. If you’d like to find out more about the game, please visit our website: thunderlotusgames.com.

I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you in person at conventions and shows around the world.

Now Available on Steam – Million Arthur: Arcana Blood

Wolf Pack

The most recent changes to Lord of Wolves created a monster. There’s been a lot of discussion online about it. Once honorable, the Lord of Wolves has become a hard-to-stop Werewolf in Lord Saladin’s contest. It’s super rigged (a small silver lining: it seems like roaming Supers get melted by it. FYI: We’re looking at reducing the damage resistance of roaming Supers this fall).

Whether you’ve been tamed by it, or are running around as a pack in Iron Banner, we’re going to bring the Wolf to heel later this Summer.

Sometimes, Destiny is going to have goofy outliers, or periods of time where something is OP (like the Wolves howling right now in IB on PC). We don’t want these periods to last too long (post-Forsaken launch Voidlocks), but they can be memorable moments.

Internally, we had a bunch of spirited debate this week around whether or not we should just prevent players from equipping Lord of Wolves throughout the game. This is a blunt tool, and basically banning an item from being equipped isn’t something we take lightly.

In this instance, Lord of Wolves dominance (and its really showing out on PC)  didn’t rise up to meet the bar of “this is broken enough to turn it off in all activities.” If the Wolf Pack continues to grow, we can revisit turning it off. From our perspective, this feels like a week where the Wolves run wild and supers trample their way through Iron Banner a little less.

Ultimately, video games are incredible places for memories to form and we do want Destiny to be a game world that remembers. We’re going to create a special Triumph for this moment in time, and anyone who finishes an Iron Banner match will be awarded a Triumph and an associated sweet nameplate. Our gifted artists and designers will come up with something cool to capture the week when the Wolves ran wild.

Awoooooooooooooooo

Thanks and see you soon (but longer than two days this time),

Luke Smith

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Professions - How To Pick The Best Class For You

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite--the just-released iOS and Android game from Pokemon Go developer Niantic--presents you with a variety of choices to make. One that you don't get until you've leveled up a bit is the ability to pick one of three Professions, but which job you decide on has a big effect on how you'll play the game going forward. Your Profession lets you upgrade yourself with perks and abilities that make you more effective in Wizards Unite's various battle, where you'll take on Death Eaters, scary creatures, and a whole lot more.

A big part of Wizards Unite is gathering energy to cast spells, and occasionally, you'll have to use your magic capabilities to face down enemies from the Wizarding World. Some of the best rewards and rarest Foundables in the game are locked inside locations called Fortresses, which put you into cooperative battles with other players on your side. If you're a player of Pokemon Go, some of this will be familiar to you--but Wizards Unite adds a lot of depth to its battle system, as well. (We've got even more Harry Potter: Wizards Unite coverage on our hub page.)

Choosing a Profession is a significant decision, as is spending the items you earn as you play in order to level yourself up over time. But how to choose whether you should be an Auror like Harry Potter, a Magizoologist like Newt Scamander, or a Professor like Albus Dumbledore? There are a lot of factors that go into the decision, including what kind of wizard you want to be, what battle stats are important to you, and how you'll best contribute to a team of players.

We've run down the basics of the Profession system below to help you make the right decision. Here's everything you need to know about Wizard Unite's class system, including each class's specializations, skill trees, and what the stats you'll be upgrading with the game's RPG elements mean and how they work.

Which Profession Is Right For You?

There are three different professions to choose from in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which become available when you hit Level 6. Each has different benefits and drawbacks. All the professions have different areas of combat they specialize in, and are tuned to defeat different kinds of enemies. Picking the job that matches your playstyle in battle is important, but having a balanced team in situations like multiplayer Wizarding Challenges in Fortresses is also essential to victory. The good news is, you can switch specializations at any time, so if your team is short on someone to specialize in dealing with Curiosities or Beasts, you can change roles to fill the gap. There are three jobs from which to choose, each with its own unique tree of skills and perks you can earn over time.

Auror

Under the mentorship of none other than Harry Potter, Aurors are the folks who specialize in magical combat against the Dark Arts. Their abilities tend to focus on combat strength and dealing direct damage to enemies, so think of them as the frontline fighters of the Wizarding World. Aurors have the lowest Stamina, or health, of the three classes, but the highest Power. They also get more critical hits, and do more damage with them, than other wizards. Aurors do extra damage to Dark Forces enemies but take extra damage from Beast enemies.

Magizoologist

Rubeus Hagrid serves as mentor to Magizoologists, whose abilities are more aligned with caring for creatures--and other humans. This is your defensive healer class of wizards, wielding spells that are more about helping out the team than damaging enemies directly. They also have the highest Stamina of the three classes. Magizoologists are strong against Beast enemies and weak against Curiosities.

Professor

With Minerva McGonagle heading their order, Professors are a more versatile class of wizard. Their spells focus generally on buffing their teammates and debuffing their enemies, making them the status manipulators of a squad. This is your middle-of-the-road class, balanced between the power of Aurors and the defensiveness of Magizoologists, but with a lot of good traits of both. Professors do extra damage to Curiosities and take additional damage from Dark Forces enemies.

Upgrading Your Skills In The Skill Tree

You'll need to keep an eye on a new set of items you'll find as you venture through Wizards Unite, once you've unlocked Professions: Scrolls and Spellbooks. You'll spend these in the skill trees of your professions to unlock new spells and passive perks that make you more effective in combat, like gaining additional stamina or dealing more damage.

Scrolls come from the chests unlocked when you complete Traces and catalog Foundables in your Registry, so they're fairly easy to come by. Especially in the early part of the skill trees, you'll mostly be spending Scrolls to advance and unlock different abilities and perks. Tougher to get are Spell Books, which are found in the chests when you complete Wizarding Challenges in Fortresses. If you want to advance your wizard abilities, you're going to need to engage in multiplayer battles with other players.

The Stats

When you reach the Profession screen, you'll see a page that gauges a series of stats you'll increase for your wizard as you unlock perks in the skill tree. Their meanings aren't immediately clear, so here's what each one does:

• Stamina: Your health in battles.
• Power: The strength of the spells you use against enemies.
• Protego Power: The strength of your protection spell, used to defend against incoming attacks from enemies.
• Precision: The likelihood of landing a Critical Hit, which does increased damage.
• Critical Power: The boost in damage you get when you land a Critical Hit.
• Proficiency Power: The bonus strength of your spells against enemies your class is especially strong against.
• Deficiency Defense: Added protection against enemies that do bonus damage to your class.
• Accuracy: How likely your spells are to hit their targets.

Obviously, increasing all these stats is important, but some stats are higher for certain classes than others. Aurors are geared toward Power and Precision, Magizoologists toward Stamina and Defense, and Professors toward Accuracy and Proficiency.

Important Stats: Proficiency Power, Deficiency Defense

There are lots of stats you can amp up in your skill tree as you progress through it, including the power of your offensive spells and the effectiveness of Protego, your magical defense. But when it comes to specializing in your particular Profession, you're going to want to keep an eye on two stats: Proficiency Power and Deficiency Defense.

Proficiency Power denotes how much of a boost you get against enemies that are weak to your chosen Profession. If you're an Auror, you'll get a bonus against Dark Forces enemies such as Death Eaters, but Proficiency Power dictates how big a bonus you receive. Especially when you're able to play with other specialized wizards on a team, boosting this stat will make you highly effective in your particular role.

Deficiency Defense is the other side of the coin. The higher the stat, the less of a hit you take against the enemies to whom you are weak--in the case of Aurors, that would be Beast enemies such as spiders. Regardless of your strategy, investing in Deficiency Defense will help you survive in battle no matter what kind of enemy you're facing.

Coordinate With Friends And Teammates

It's possible to change your Profession on the fly, but you're going to access more perks and stronger abilities sooner if you specialize in one job instead of investing in all three skill trees. Therefore, if you mean to be a serious Wizards Unite player, you're going to want to team up with other people in your area and coordinate your Profession choices with them. If you've got a strong team, you can spread out your Professions and capabilities, making you a much more effective unit in multiplayer. On the other hand, if you intend to play Wizards Unite more casually, any Profession will probably do the job.

Choose Carefully

The strongest upgrades are the "Lessons" toward the bottom of each skill tree. Every time you spend Scrolls or Spell Books to unlock a node, you gain access to the ones beneath it--but you don't have to purchase something from every single node in order to progress down the tree. That means it's beneficial to be discerning about what lessons you invest in as you upgrade your wizard; you don't need to buy everything, and doing so will impede your progress toward your best skills and perks. Pick your way down the skill tree to try to get upgrades that feed into your playstyle, so you can get the best upgrades sooner. You can always go back and fill in with additional nodes if you find you're lacking in a particular stat later on.

Russell Crowe Talks About Passing On The Lord Of The Rings

Russell Crowe is among the list of actors who turned down the role of Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film series, and now he's spoken about why he said no to what could have become a career-defining role. Crowe told Howard Stern that it was his impression that Jackson never really wanted him for the part, and he agreed that it was his understanding that the studio went after him because he was so popular at the time.

"I didn't think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on the film; I think he was forced into talking to me. There was a moment in time where everybody wanted me in everything," Crowe said. "And he's a fellow New Zealander; so I can hear his voice. I'm talking to him on the phone. And it's like, I don't think he even knows what I've done. My instinct was that he had somebody else in mind, which turned out to be Viggo Mortensen. And he should be allowed to hire the actor that he wants."

Other actors who reportedly said no to the role of Aragorn include Nicolas Cage and Daniel Day-Lewis. Stuart Townsend was ultimately cast as Aragorn. He spent months training and filmed multiple days on set before Jackson decided to recast the role with Mortensen.

Stern said, and Crowe nodded in agreement, that Crowe was offered 10 percent of the gross box office performance of the Lord of the Rings series. That would have made him an enormously wealthy person, but Crowe says he doesn't lose sleep over it. After all, Crowe casually dropped $35,000 on a dinosaur skull that he drunkenly bought from Leonardo DiCaprio.

According to Stern, Crowe missed out on $100 million by passing on The Lord of the Rings, but it might have actually been more. If Crowe was actually earning 10 percent of total box office grosses for the series, he would have made many, many millions more considering the series brought in more than $3 billion. Sean Connery, meanwhile, passed on the role of Gandalf. He was reportedly offered $10 million per movie in addition to 15 percent of the franchise box office, which would have amounted to $450 million or more, according to Syfy.

Also in the Howard Stern interview, Crowe talked about passing on another high-profile role: Wolverine. Hugh Jackman was eventually cast, and Crowe praised his performance. "Even if I had done the film, I wouldn't have carried it through with the grace and the direction that Hugh gave it," he said.

The latest Lord of the Rings movie is the biopic Tolkien that tells the story of author J.R.R. Tolkien's life and the events leading up to his writing of the acclaimed series.

Realm Royale Is Now Available As A Free Download On Switch

Last month, after a series of rumours and leaks, Hi-Rez Studios released the Realm Royale Founder’s Pack on the Switch eShop. This paid version of the game gave Nintendo owners a helping hand with additional goodies and essentially early access ahead of its free-to-play launch on the system.

If you are one of the individuals who has been holding out for the game’s free release on the Switch, you’ll be pleased to hear this version is now downloadable from the eShop in both North America and Europe. All up, you’ll need 2.5GB of free space to enjoy this fantasy battle royale on your own system.

For anyone who hasn’t heard about Realm Royale before, it’s a class-based game where a large number of players fight to be the last individual or team standing on a battlefield. The classes put a unique spin on the popular genre – allowing each player to unlock different abilities and weapons, and then work towards special end goals over the duration of a match. You’re even able to craft your own weapons. Take a look at the video below to get a better idea of what you can expect:

You can also read our in-depth feature with the game’s lead designer James Horgan, executive producer Mick Larkins and brand director Alex Cantatore.

Will you be downloading Realm Royale on the Switch? Tell us below.

Ubisoft Is Still Releasing Just Dance On Wii Because The “Audience Wants It”

Ubisoft might have dropped support for the Wii U, but it continues to release Just Dance games on Nintendo’s original Wii device. Why is that? According to a Ubisoft representative who was contacted by Polygon recently, it’s simply because there’s still demand for the series on this platform:

“Just Dance 2020 is coming to the Wii because our audience wants it.”

Prior to this official statement, there’s been a theory doing the rounds on social media for the past week, suggesting it’s all to do with Ubisoft needing to supply hospitals:

While Ubisoft has “donated consoles and Just Dance games over the years to children’s hospitals where they use the game with patients to help with movement, exercise, rehabilitation and just for fun” there’s still an audience outside of this area:

” A lot of our players are children and families who continue to play on Wii”

So, there you have it – Ubisoft is still releasing Just Dance on the Wii because people, in general, are still playing the game on the platform. The latest entry Just Dance 2020 arrives on the Switch and Wii this November.

Can you believe there are still people out there playing Just Dance on the Wii? Are you one of them? Tell us below.

Before Buying Any Nintendo Switch Games, Here's An Even Better Deal

Nintendo Switch games are notoriously expensive, but there are a few reliable ways to save yourself some cash. The Nintendo Eshop regularly has sales, and the company began offering a pair of game vouchers for $100 to players with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription that you can then redeem on two games, saving yourself up to $20. But on top of these deals, there's another way to make your money go even further that fewer people consider: gift card discounts.

Currently, at Newegg, you can save 10% on a $50 Nintendo Eshop gift card by using promo code EMCTBVT49 at checkout. That translates into getting a $50 gift card for only $45, which may not seem like a huge price cut, but why stop there? You can then turn around and use that gift card on already discounted games, saving yourself even more money.

Get a $50 Nintendo Eshop gift card for $45 »

An even sneakier way to use discounted gift cards is to buy a pair of $50 gift cards and use those to buy two game vouchers at Nintendo for $100, assuming you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. (Reminder: You can get a year of Switch Online for free through Amazon Prime.) Not only are you saving $20 on two full-price games with the vouchers, but you're saving an additional $10 with the gift card deal, getting you $120 in value for only $90. That translates to getting two new $60 Nintendo games for only $45 each. Plus, you'll get 500 My Nintendo Gold Points from the voucher purchase, which equals another $5 in Eshop credit. The eligible list of games for Nintendo's vouchers includes upcoming releases like Pokemon Sword and Shield, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Super Mario Maker 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and more.

This particular Newegg gift card deal is only running for a few more days, but gift card discounts do pop up often in case you miss this one. Xbox One and PS4 gift cards also get marked down by $5 or $10 regularly, so you can save money when shopping for those platforms as well. For example, BJ's members can currently get a $25 PlayStation Store gift card for only $20, which can be used to save even more money on some of the great PS4 games on sale right now.

Natsume Shares More Details On Harvest Moon: Mad Dash

Natsume has shared some fresh details on Harvest Moon: Mad Dash which was shown for the first time during E3 last week.

If you’re not caught up on this one, Mad Dash is described as a “fast-paced farming game” that is set to launch for both Switch and PS4 in fall 2019. You’ll be able to play the game alone or with friends if you prefer, harvesting, fishing, milking, and more as you fulfil orders to complete each level.

Things are said to start out easy, but it won’t always be a walk in the park. You’ll find yourself exploring the beach, the farm, and even an Underworld as you progress through the game, dealing with all sorts of obstacles as you try to beat each level. One example sees you growing crops while molten lava falls on them, which we imagine hinders things just a bit.

The following list of key features has been shared in a press release:

Key Features:
– Fast-paced action means quick decisions are key!
– Multiplayer madness requires communication to succeed!
– Take on farm, beach, Underworld, and Skyworld levels!
– Use Harvest Sprite Powers to unlock special support skills!

Hiro Maekawa, President & CEO of Natsume, has also shared the following statement:

“Harvest Moon: Mad Dash combines the classic harvesting and farming that players have loved in all Harvest Moon games with challenging and fun multi-player games. Fans will be able to experience the features that make Harvest Moon so familiar in a new way. We loved the reaction of people who have checked it out at E3 2019, and look forward to revealing more as we prepare for launch this fall!”

It certainly sounds like an interesting take on the Harvest Moon franchise. Do you like the sound of it? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Mobile Game Is Out Now

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has finally arrived--and it's launched sooner than expected. The much-anticipated free-to-play game received an early launch, as mobile games often do, in the Australia and New Zealand markets earlier this year, but it's arrived ahead of schedule in the US and Europe. It had been scheduled for release in these on June 21 but went live a day early on Android (through Google Play) and iOS devices (App Store). The mobile game was developed by Pokemon Go maker Niantic and revolves around a similar style of augmented reality-based gameplay. As such, it requires an internet connection, and some players have reported intermittent issues throughout the day; if you can't get in, keep trying.

Like the aforementioned AR game Pokemon Go--which it bears numerous similarities to--Wizards Unite is free to download and features optional microtransactions. You can spend money to purchase Gold, which can then be used to buy in-game items such as potions, Dark Detectors (which reveal special items), Runestones (which are required for Wizarding Challenges), and more.

The story of Wizards Unite revolves around an event known as the Calamity, which has caused Foundables--people, creatures, and artifacts from the Wizarding World--to appear in the Muggle World, thereby risking their discovery. Moreover, these Foundables are sealed by Confoundable magic. As a member of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, it is your mission to break these Counfoundable spells and retrieve the Foundables. You'll interact with Harry Potter and other familiar faces.

We recently went hands-on with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite thought it felt very much like a Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go, albeit with more content from the outset. Right from the start, the game offers a variety of quest objectives to complete, and you can add other players to your friends list (a feature that didn't come to Pokemon Go until years after its launch). The game also features an RPG-style Profession system that allows you to unlock abilities in skill trees. If you're diving into the game and are familiar with Niantic's previous work, check out our Wizards Unite guide for Pokemon Go players.

Wizards Unite launched in beta form in Australia and New Zealand last month. If you're interested in getting a closer look at the game, you can watch nearly 15 minutes of gameplay footage of the beta version in the video above.