More Than One Million People Have Now Played Yooka-Laylee
Yooka-Laylee originally began life as a Kickstarter project and went on to become the fastest video game project to reach the one million dollar mark on the crowd-funding platform. This followed with its eventual release on the Nintendo Switch and multiple other systems in 2017
According to a tweet by the official Playtonic Games Twitter account, Yooka-Laylee has now been played by more than one million people. As no other details were provided, we can only assume this latest milestone translates to the combined digital and physical sales across all platforms.
Here’s the tweet below:
In the short period this spiritual successor to Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie has been available, the chameleon and bat have come a long way – making a cameo in Brawlout and even receiving their very own comic.
Are you one of many people who have played this game? Did you buy it when it was released on the Switch? Let us know below.
Walmart's Cyber Monday 2018 Early Deals: Nintendo Switch Bundle & More
For obvious reasons, most retailers have been focusing their advertising efforts on Black Friday in recent weeks. But don't let the big post-Thanksgiving shopping day overshadow the online shopping day that's coming right up. November 26 is Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year. To encourage customers to come back to retail websites with credit cards in hand, Walmart has announced several of its upcoming Cyber Monday deals already.
Most notable among them on the gaming side is a Nintendo Switch bundle that gets you the system and a copy of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle for $299. This is roughly comparable to Switch's big Black Friday bundle, which had Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in place of Kingdom Battle. But if XCOM-style strategy is more your jam than kart racing, this make actually be a preferable bundle.
Walmart's deals will go live at 12 AM ET on November 26 (9 PM PT November 25). Walmart says it will have "thousands more deals" this year than it's had on Cyber Mondays in the past. It also promises stock will be more plentiful, so customers will be more likely to get the deals they want when they click on them.
Also new this year is Walmart.com's deal hub, which offers a curated list of the top discounted items across a number of product categories--including video games and media. We still don't know all of the deals Walmart will offer on Cyber Monday--we'll have to wait until the big day for that--but the company has released the following list of some of the best sale prices that will be on offer.
Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 24th)
Another Saturday has crept into view, with yet another chance for us to discuss our weekend gaming plans. Just like last week, you can expect plenty of Pokémon entries from Team Nintendo Life this time around, although we also have a healthy dose of competitive online play and even world domination to attend to. So make sure to give our thoughts a read before leaving your own in the comments below. Oh, and join in the fun in our poll, too. Enjoy!
Ryan Craddock, staff writer
I find myself quite torn this week. If I had to place a bet on which game I’ll end up playing over the next couple of days, it would probably have to be Pokémon: Let’s Go, but I’m not exactly sure how far to go with it. Playing through the main story and beating the Elite Four was a wonderful nostalgic adventure, but I’m actually finding the idea of beating every single Master Trainer too daunting. Similarly, I’m not sure if I can really be bothered enough to put all the effort into completing the Pokédex, but that probably says more about me and the general lack of free time we have than the game itself.
I’ve really started to understand the desire for quick and easy games that don’t take up too much of your time in recent years; as a child, I’d love nothing more than sinking countless hours into huge games, but nowadays there are far too many games and nowhere near enough time. Slightly shorter, but top-tier quality adventures, are certainly more my thing now, so perhaps I should allow myself to resist beating every single aspect the game has to offer?
Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer
It’s wombo-combo weekend for Splatoon2 and ARMS events in Europe, and I’ll be doing my finest to represent my choices on both playing fields. Starlink: Battle for Atlas is out (sequel, please!), Warframe is in. Did not take much to figure a game featuring space ninjas would be up my alley. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is firmly on the road for a climatic ending but I am unsure I will be able to clear the final chapters this weekend alone… but it won’t be for the lack of trying. Now I only need to figure out where I will be able to sneak in a few Road Redemption fatalities and GRIP races in here.
My game of the week goes to SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. Bit of a cheat since its a compilation of several classic games from the ’80s but there has never been any better way to revisit the formative years of SNK prior to Neo Geo hardware than this delightful Switch exclusive.
Gavin Lane, contributing writer
Assuming I can tear myself away from Civilization VI, I plan to check out the snazzy gold edition of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle this weekend. After picking up Dark Souls, InsideandNight in the Woods, I thought I was set until Christmas… but the Cyber Sale (and that Grant Kirkhope score) proved too tempting. My Banjo-Kazooie Totaku figure also arrived this week, so I’ll spend a significant amount of time holding that while wearing a big grin.
Ditching Civ is easier said than done, though. Teddy Roosevelt, that culture vulture, stole victory from me last night – I wasn’t best pleased and he needs to be taught a lesson.
Glen Fox, guides editor
I haven’t contributed in a while because I got hideously addicted to various PS4 titles – blasphemy aside though, I’ve actually dusted off my Switch this week to invest a bit of time into Pokémon: Let’s Go. As Nintendo Life readers will be well aware by now, I’m not the biggest fan of Pokémon. So I can’t tell you in intricate detail how it’s not as good as Diamond and Pearl or whatever but as someone who’s dipped their toe in the water with Pokémon GO, Sun and Moon, and X and Y, I do have an idea of what it does well and not so well.
The stuff I like mostly involves the streamlining. I like that you basically just leave your house and you’re off on an adventure – no faff. I like that you can check a Pokémon’s stats with ease and later pick up the ‘Judge’ ability to get a solid idea of how good your Pokémon is. I like that you can catch Pokémon in a chain to get a much higher chance of nabbing a ‘mon with the best IVs. It all just seems to make sense and be accessible in a way Pokémon wasn’t before and as a relative newcomer, I really appreciate that.
The stuff I don’t like is pretty much related to the controls. Playing with a single Joy-Con is a fun little novelty at first and the motion controls (when they work, at least) do offer a nice new way to catch monsters. It’s a bit annoying that you can’t use your Pro Controller at all though – what’s that about? Surely it could function in a similar manner to playing in handheld mode? I don’t see myself investing a lot more time into it if I’m perfectly honest, as it feels a bit like a shell of a game. Battles seem pretty easy for the most part so I don’t feel the need to go out and hunt stronger Pokémon and I don’t really feel the need to dig into it after already playing Sun and Moon or X and Y. Just feels a lot like a retread.
Liam Doolan, news reporter
I’ll likely be playing Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! over the next few days. A week on and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a huge fan of the latest entries. If anything, they’ve reinvigorated my interest in the long-running series. One aspect about these new games that I truly appreciate is how Pokémon are now visible in the wild. This cuts potentially hours out of the journey and the grind, and throws the random encounter system out the window – to some extent. It’s great when you’re searching for a particular pocket monster or you want to avoid the lot of them.
There are a lot of other ‘quality of life’ changes that I would like to see carry across to future entries as well. The fact the entire Pokémon Storage Box is no longer fixed to a computer terminal makes the adventure so much smoother. It has also encouraged me to switch my party up throughout the game, instead of sticking with a select six. Once again, I could carry on all day about everything I love in these new games, but you get the point – this weekend I’ll be exploring Kanto. Expect another update next week.
Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, reviewer
This weekend you can bet I’ll be spending more time in Warframe. Check out my review if you haven’t already – it’s not perfect but it’s the closest we’re ever likely to get to having Destiny on Switch. I’ll also be embracing some retro vibes in my next review, Rock Boshers: Director’s Cut DX. Chiptunes for the win!
Which games are you playing this weekend? (99 votes)
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-25-2018, 06:12 AM - Forum: Lounge
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TwitchCon is heading to Europe for the first time
TwitchCon, the annual gathering held for Twitch streamers and the community, is heading to Europe for the first time next year as TwitchCon Europe.
As detailed in a press release, the event will be held at at CityCube in Berlin, Germany from April 13-14 for the European Twitch community, containing much of the same elements as its United States counterpart.
The company selected Berlin as the location for TwitchCon Europe based on its centralized location, and Germany’s reported status as one of the top performing countries in terms of both streamers and viewership.
In addition, Twitch sees the city as ideal based on proximity to attractions and accommodations, and its accessibility to those traveling from out of the country.
Additional TwitchCon Europe details will be shared in the coming months.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-25-2018, 06:12 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Video: Bringing hell to life — AI and animation in DOOM
With highly stylized enemy characters in DOOM, the success in “selling” the characters is usually tied directly to the quality of the animations, and the combat AI in DOOM relies heavily on straightforward full body animations.
However, this meant that the AI animation controls needed to be more robust and flexible than simple naive playback. So how did the developers manage?
In this GDC 2017 talk, id Software’s Jake Campbell explains some of the techniques that were used to make the full-body AI animations of 2016’s DOOM 2016 in a modern game environment.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent company Informa
Six Steps to Mastering Eternal Without Ever Spending a Dime
When we set out to make Eternal, we were guided by a couple of core ideas.
The first was that strategy card games can be both deep and engaging, as well as smooth and polished. We love card games, and we wanted a fast-paced game that provided a huge amount of replayability and an awesome community.
The second was that card games can be both collectible and honestly free-to-play. As an independent studio in a genre full of much larger competitors, we’ve worked hard to make Eternal the most generous SCG on the market, so players can play however they want (including competing at the highest levels) without ever having to spend a dime.
Everyone here at Dire Wolf Digital plays Eternal as a free-to-play player – we play the game the same way you do, and don’t give ourselves any shortcuts in terms of cards, gems, or gold. And we’ve learned a thing or two about how to get the most out of the game’s generous reward system. So here are the six key steps to playing how the dev team plays Eternal and competing at the highest levels as a truly free-to-play player.
Step 1: Get Your First Win of the Day
The first time you win a PvP game each day (in either Casual or Ranked queues), you get an entire pack of cards! Players are matched by overall experience and skill level, so don’t be afraid to jump into a PvP game to check it out heads-up play. All it takes is one win, and you’ll get an entire pack from the latest set! On top of that, every win after your first of the day earns you even more gold and cards.
Step 2: Complete Daily Quests
Every day in Eternal brings a new Daily Quest with special objectives based on the decks you choose. You can usually complete a Quest in a few quick games, and doing so will give you a nice bonus in the form of cards, packs, or even a theme deck!
Step 3: Level Up in Gauntlet
Grab one of the theme decks that you’ll get from playing and hop into an always-free Gauntlet to level up your skills against Eternal’s tactical AI. You’ll earn rewards as you play, and if you take down one of the extra tough Bosses, you’ll get a special level-up bonus. When you’re ready to start brewing up your own decks, try them out in Gauntlet first to see how you do. (And if, like me, you’re not that into deck-building, no worries, many of us use the theme decks available in-game to get the hang of playing or even to do our daily quests.)
Step 4: Draft, Draft, Draft
To really kickstart your collection, you’ll want to Draft. In an Eternal Draft, you build a deck on the fly by selecting 48 cards from a series of packs… and you get to keep all the cards you pick! So if you’ve got your eye on beefing up your Rakano Warcry theme deck, you can prioritize choosing cards in Draft that will help you in other game modes!
Step 5: Play Sealed
Every month, a new Sealed League kicks off and runs all month long. In Sealed League, you get a whole pile of packs (that you get to keep!) to build your deck from. Each week, you also get new packs to spice things up along the way. On top of that, you earn packs as prizes. That’s a whole lotta packs! Sealed is a great way to quickly expand your collection and discover new cards that you may have overlooked. And because everybody is only playing with the packs they opened, newer players can compete on a level playing field with even the most experienced players! In addition to all those packs, every Sealed League rewards participants with a new card back you can use to spruce up your decks.
Step 6: Go Gold
Draft and Sealed require gold to enter…so go earn some gold! Besides Daily Quests and Gauntlets, the fastest way to earn gold in Eternal is to battle other players in the Ranked queue. Get in there and use what you’ve learned to take down the competition and bust open some reward chests! The gold you earn there can be put towards Tournaments, Campaigns, Events, Totems, and everything else Eternal has to offer!
If you follow those six steps, you’ll find your card collection and your account balance growing steadily and quickly – and you’ll play some sweet games in a variety of game modes while you do it!
So, welcome the Eternal community and thanks for playing on Xbox One! With a new set on the way and the first Eternal Championship Qualifier coming in just a couple of weeks and rolling out to Xbox shortly thereafter, there’s never been a better time to discover your new favorite card game. We’ll see you in the game!
Eternal arrives on Xbox One Wednesday, November 21.
7.20b: == * Meepo: Agility gain reduced from 2.2 to 1.4 * Meepo: Poof damage reduced from 80/100/120/140 to 70/90/110/130 * Meepo: Ransack hero steal reduced from 8/12/16/20 to 6/10/14/18 * Meepo: Level 10 Talent reduced from +15 Damage to +10 * Meepo: Level 15 Talent changed from +10% Lifesteal to +15% Evasion * Meepo: Level 20 Talent changed from +15% Evasion to +10% Lifesteal * Meepo: Level 25 Talent reduced from +600 Health to +400
* Luna: Lunar Blessing reduced from 8/14/20/26 to 6/12/18/24 * Luna: Level 15 Talent changed from +14 Lunar Blessing Attributes to +30 Movement Speed
* Slark: Now only steals agility when he kills the enemy himself * Slark: Pounce leash duration from 3.5 to 2.75/3/3.25/3.5 * Slark: Pounce leash range from 325 to 350 * Slark: Shadow Dance cooldown increased from 60 to 80/70/60 * Slark: Level 20 Talent reduced from +3s Pounce Leash to +2s
* Dazzle: Poison Touch manacost increased from 80/90/100/110 to 80/100/120/140 * Dazzle: Bad Juju debuff duration reduced from 10 to 8
* Sand King: Sandstorm cooldown increased from 34/28/22/16 to 40/32/24/16 * Sand King: Sandstorm manacost rescaled from 60/50/40/30 to 60
* Underlord: Intelligence gain reduced from 2.6 to 2.3
* Lone Druid: Spirit Link attack speed reduced from 30/50/70/90 to 20/40/60/80 * Lone Druid: Spirit Link cooldown from 42/34/26/18 to 44/36/28/20
* Wraith Band: Attack speed bonus reduced from 8 to 7
* Drow: Base agility increased by 4 * Drow: Precision Aura increased from 20/36/52/68% to 20/40/60/80%
* Outworld Devourer: Base Intelligence increased from 24 to 28 * Outworld Devourer: Equilibrium mana restore from 60/80/100/120% to 80/100/120/140% * Outworld Devourer: Equilibrium slow from 8/16/24/32% to 12/20/28/36% * Outworld Devourer: Equilibrium cooldown from 20 to 18
* Clinkz: Burning Army base attack time improved from 1.8/1.65/1.5 to 1.65/1.5/1.35 * Clinkz: Burning Army cast range increased from 800 to 1200
* Chaos Knight: Chaos Strike cooldown from 8/7/6/5 to 7/6/5/4 * Chaos Knight: Phantasm damage increased from 40/70/100% to 50/75/100%
* Centaur: Retaliate max stacks increased from 10 to 13
* Ember Spirit: Fixed a bug with multiple Fire Remnant instances not doing damage properly * Ember Spirit: Sleight of Fist damage increased from 30/60/90/120 to 35/70/105/140
* Medusa: Agility increased from 20 + 2.5 to 22 + 3.4 * Medusa: Level 15 Talent increased from +20% Mystic Snake Mana Steal to +35%
* Treant Protector: Nature’s Guise fade time reduced from 4.75/4/3.25/2.5 to 4/3.5/3/2.5 * Treant Protector: Nature’s Guise total damage increased from 30/80/130/180 to 30/90/150/210 * Treant Protector: Nature’s Guise movement speed increased from 10/15/20/25% to 14/18/22/26%
* Storm Spirit: Electric Vortex duration from 1/1.5/2/2.5 to 1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6 * Storm Spirit: Electric Vortex cooldown from 21/20/19/18 to 22/20/18/16 * Storm Spirit: Overload attack speed reduction from -50 to -80 (matches movement speed now)
* Sven: Warcry shield health increased from 100/200/300/400 to 110/220/330/440
* Venomancer: Poison Sting slow from 11/12/13/14% to 11/13/15/17%
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-25-2018, 05:01 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Cyber Monday 2018 Deals On Games, Movies, TVs, And More
Why would we talk about Cyber Monday 2018 when Black Friday is still ongoingthis weekend? Because these two major shopping days occur very close to one another. Many deal hunters will still be recovering from a Black Friday savings hangover by the time Cyber Monday arrives on November 26. If that's you, you'd better pop some Tylenol and hop online, because Cyber Monday deals will be coming in hot.
As for specific Cyber Monday deals, little is known at the moment, though we have gotten a few hints as to what offers will be available. For instance, Ebay is doing a "Cyber Weekend" sale, with deals on things like a Microsoft Surface Pro and a 65" 4K smart TV starting on Saturday, November 24. Additional deals will kick off on Monday, Novmeber 26, including on a Fallout 76 Xbox One X bundle, though the price has yet to be announced. You can find additional information in our Cyber Monday preview of the deals we already know about.
Seeing as retailers will be dropping prices on an array of products on and around Cyber Monday, it can be hard to know if you're getting the best deal possible on any given item. Below, you'll find links that will help you sort through the sales to find the biggest discounts available. We'll continue adding more links as new sales are announced, making this the go-to page for your Cyber Monday needs.
To help prepare you for the craziness of Cyber Monday, we've looked at what happened last year to help set expectations for this year's online shopping day.
We now have total confirmation that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has made its way into the wild, as the game data has been dumped online.
Among the content dumped is the entire collection of music present in the game, which are already making their way online in the form of YouTube videos. We recommend being cautious in the coming weeks to avoid major spoilers.
Saints Row: The Third Brings The Full Package To Nintendo Switch Next Year
The Saints Row series has come under fire on a number of occasions in the past for its edgy gameplay containing violence, drugs and sexual references. While Rockstar’s open world series Grand Theft Auto might be the more well-known of the two, make no mistake – this THQ published title is just as rebellious, with some entries in this series even being refused classification in certain parts of the world until they were altered and resubmit.
Earlier this year, during a surprise reveal at Gamescom 2018, Deep Silver confirmed Saints Row: The Third would be arriving on the Switch in 2019. While no exact date was dropped, we’ve got a minor update to share. Channelling its naughty history, the Switch version of the game will be known as Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package. Considering this is a game that loves to make lewd references, this is most definitely a play on words. Judging by the name, it will also include all of the game’s download content, which was also labelled ‘The Full Package’ back in the day. The full title for the game was spotted on the Brazillian Advisory Rating website:
For the uninformed, Saints Row: The Third was originally released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC in 2011. This will be the first time the popular open-world series has appeared on a Nintendo system. In the game, you must lead the Third Street Saints gang in a turf war battle. The open world city design encourages chaos, much like the GTA series – with plenty of weapons and vehicles at your disposal.
Are you looking forward to the release of Saints Row: The Third when it arrives on the Switch sometime next year or were you hoping for one of the more recent entries in the series? Tell us below.
