Remember Hover: Revolt of Gamers? That Kickstarted open-world title that looks like a mashup between Mirror’s Edge, Jet Set Radio and TrickStyle? Well, it was coming to Wii U when it was first announced in 2014, but like most games once destined for Nintendo’s deceased platform, the title will now be heading to Nintendo Switch instead. It’s also dropped the Revolt of Gamers subtitle.

The game is already available on PC, with developer Midgar Studio confirming the title will be hitting the hybrid console sometime in 2018. With both the PS4 and Xbox One versions also slated for 2018, fingers crossed we’re not waiting too long to see the handheld version.

Is Hover still on your radar? Let us know if this Jet Set Radio love letter is destined for your digital collection. Share your thoughts below…

Wizard of Legend is Now Available on Steam!

Wizard of Legend is a no-nonsense, action-packed take on wizardry that emphasizes precise movements and smart comboing of spells in a rogue-like dungeon crawler that features over a hundred unique spells and relics!

This week at Bungie, we watched Guardians become Legends.

This last week has been one to remember. It’s one of the best things about Destiny, really—when memories are forged in the fires of combat. It’s been an absolute pleasure to see these experiences unfold, and we’re excited to see more of these stories shared throughout the community.

In the coming weeks, we’ll dive into what’s changing about Faction Rallies and shed a bit more light on what Crucible Labs will bring to the table. This week, our focus is on feedback…

Powerful Progress

Feedback never stops. From the moment Warmind landed, we’ve had our eyes on the chatter surrounding all aspects of Destiny 2. One trending topic is how players reach appropriate Power levels for endgame content. Senior Investment Designer Daniel Auchenpaugh has some details on what to expect moving forward:

Daniel: Warmind is out! We’re super excited this is in your hands now, as we’re able to get a bunch of excellent input on what we did well and what we still need to work on. One of those areas I’d like to talk about a bit is progression. I spoke a little about this before the Warmind launch, but I think one thing I could have been more clear about was that the Warmind progression system is an improvement over Curse of Osiris, but still not where we ultimately want to end up. It’s a step down the road to make the game more in line with where we want it, but we need to make these iterations one step at a time so we can incorporate feedback and ensure we’re heading in the right direction.

Heroic strikes are a great example of something we definitely want to keep iterating on. In the May 29 update, you’ll see a small change to help make these better. 

• Escalation Protocol Key Fragments will become a 100 percent drop chance from each Heroic strike. The goal here is to make getting these fragments more accessible while also preserving the need to go play non-open-world content to get the fragments. 
• Heroic strikes will be able to drop better rewards. Every three to five Heroic strikes will drop a Legendary that can carry you up to 360 Power (before mods). This should better align the rewards of Heroic strikes with the difficulty of the activity and help solo players have a more reliable source of upgrades. 

We won’t have any time to make changes to what’s coming on the 29th, but please let us know how you feel about these rates; it is good information to inform future updates.

We’re tracking some additional issues that don’t have immediate solutions, but that I want to bring up as things we’re thinking and talking about. I don’t currently have any potential solutions to talk about, but I want to make sure we’re communicating the kinds of things we’re looking at and considering. In that spirit, here are some of the top progression-related issues we’re thinking about right now:

• How to smooth out the transition into the endgame grind once the campaign is over. Currently, there is a brick wall players seem to be running into at 345, where progression goes from fast to super frictioned. This is one of those areas we definitely don’t believe is perfect, so we’re looking at how to smooth this transition out.
• Once milestones are complete, there aren’t rewards to chase. Exotic Masterworks and seasonal ranks help this problem a little bit (giving some amount of non-Power chase to work on once milestones are done) but these definitely aren’t enough. As highlighted in the roadmap, Weapon Randomization and Records should also help give players more to do once their milestones are done. That doesn’t mean we believe this is a fully solved problem, and we’re talking about other ways to help mitigate this.
• Endgame progression needs more tiers. Right now, everything gives similar-sized upgrades without discrete tiers in the progression system for players to climb to (so they can tackle new activities and, in turn, climb to a new tier with new activities). This is something I definitely wouldn’t expect a solution for prior to September, but it is on our radar.
• The quality of the rewards don’t always match the difficulty of the activity. We’re seeing a lot of this feedback around raid lair rewards in particular, so talking about how to better align with the quality of reward and the difficulty of activity is something we’re going to be thinking about more going forward.

Huge thanks to everyone who has spent time to type up their thoughts, what they love, and what they don’t love with the progression and reward systems in Warmind. We’re keeping our ear to the ground. 

P.S.: Send me images of your favorite shader + Escalation Protocol gear combos. This is unrelated to progression—I just wanna see ’em!

Going for Glory

Progression isn’t just achieving new levels of Power, we also look at how players are rising through ranks of Valor and Glory. We’ve gotten some questions on the hows and whys of the ranking system. PvP Design Lead Derek Carroll has some answers.

Derek: Now that we’ve added a serious ranking system to the Competitive playlist, we’re seeing many more Guardians attempt to climb the ladder to become Legend. On their way to the top, some players have raised questions that we can address here.

Q: Why would I match against a player with a higher Glory rank than me?

A: For a variety of reasons, we don’t match directly on your Glory number, instead using our per-playlist “Skill” value. It’s quite likely that your opponent is a good match against you, but they’ve been grinding Glory more consistently, so have moved up the ranks faster. Take this as a sign that you’ll likely reach that rank with continued play.

Q: Why can I match against pre-formed fireteams when I’m searching as a solo player?

A: After a bit of server-side tuning and investigation, we re-enabled the Crucible Fireteam Matchmaking feature yesterday. This does not directly reduce the chances of matching against pre-made fireteams, but does tweak the “Skill” values of those fireteams to make it more likely that they find evenly-matched opponents.

Q: Why won’t you make a solo-queue-only playlist?

A: We don’t want to do that because it would split the population in an unhealthy way, making it less likely for everyone to find good matches. Furthermore, that would probably mean splitting the Glory rank into “Solo Glory” and “Team Glory” numbers, and we’d much rather there be one single number to represent your prowess in the Crucible.

Q: Why would you place me in a game in progress that you know I’m going to lose, ending my streak?

A: There’s no join-in-progress in Competitive, so this can’t happen for Glory. However, we are working on a fix for Valor in the other playlists, so you won’t lose your Valor streak that way.

As always, thanks for the feedback. We are always working to make the Crucible a great place to compete with and against your fellow Guardians. Good hunting!

Ironclad

 

Lord Saladin returns—with updated rewards!

BEGINS: Tuesday, May 22

ENDS: Tuesday, May 29

The game is Control!

The ways in which players earn rewards have also been updated for Season 3. Saladin will feature a similar reputation system to Vanguard, where players can climb the ranks by turning in Iron Banner Tokens. Each reputation rank up will lend progress to unlocking desired rewards.

New Ornaments have also been added, each with specific objectives for players to complete in the Iron Banner playlist when available.

At Your Fingertips

Destiny 2 isn’t the only thing that’s evolving over the course of the Roadmap. The Bungie.net team is also making plans to improve the experience on the website and Destiny Companion App. Senior UX Designer John Stvan and UX Designer Stosh Steward are here to give a report of what’s to come:

John: Two weeks ago, we started a discussion on Bungie.net and Reddit to get feedback on the Destiny Companion App and Bungie.net. We’ve combed the feedback and created a prioritized list of themes and sentiment that have been trending throughout the community. Priority was based on the volume of specific feedback items, how a feature or change could impact the user base, and if current feature usage data matched up with some of our inferences. We then proceeded to sort them into groups of Features/Experiences and UX/UI Improvements.

With Warmind out the door and a few Destiny updates between now and September, we want to be sure to set the right expectations on what’s coming. Each content release comes with a host of changes, updates, and fixes that we as a small team have to make sure don’t break our experiences. We don’t expect there to ever be issues, but sometimes the game makes a simple tweak to some investment, and by the time that gets to Bungie.net or the companion, the effect is magnified. As a recent example, players were unable to interact with characters after Destiny Update 1.2.0 due to issues between the companion and the new emote wheel. With that said, here are our initial goals for what will be coming soon to the Destiny Companion App and Bungie.net:

Timeframe—Early Summer

Stats (Medals): We are actively looking into how we can add medals and other stats incrementally to PGCR’s (post-game carnage reports) and player profiles. We knew ahead of the feedback collection that this would be a widely requested feature, but we were surprised by how many throughout the community wanted more stats surrounding medals acquired in the Crucible.

LFG: We have recently added the Clans Fireteam feature to the Destiny Companion, but we are looking to give players more ways to form fireteams through the companion and website.

Vendor Accessibility and Primary User Experience: Vendors are currently available to interact with through the companion app, but a recurring piece of feedback was that players are unable to locate the feature. We think this is due to vendors being in Progress which may be an unexpected location. The numbers also don’t lie—Progress isn’t getting the views we expected. We suspect that’s due to other sections in the app either having similar features or it being hidden.

Moving forward, we’ll be working to merge the Explore and Progress tabs to fulfill some of our initial goals. Explore was intended to be, “What’s going on? What don’t I want to miss out on?” However, it’s barely been more than a news feed. Progress was intended for users to know what their progress is towards their goals in Destiny 2. 

By combining these two sections, we feel we can create an experience that gives you the “What don’t I want to miss out on?” and the “What things do I need to go do?” sentiments. 

Timeframe—Summer

Gear User Experience and Sorting: When it comes to gear, third-party apps have provided amazing user experiences paired with Destiny and Destiny 2, and we couldn’t be prouder of them. We can’t tell you how excited we are that third-party apps have found solutions and satisfied that itch for the full screen, multi-character, nobs-and-switches experience. We are actively investigating ways to up our own game and provide better experiences within the Destiny Companion App when it comes to things like transferring, sorting, and equipping gear.

Timeframe—…and beyond

The future is bright and hopeful for Destiny 2 and the Companion. We want to ensure that we have targets to aim at—some big, daunting targets—and you’ve definitely helped provide us with those. We are grateful for the discussion we had, and can’t wait to have more ongoing conversations and feedback about the Companion and Bungie.net.

This conversation is far from over. In fact, it should never end. We want to always be listening and responding either with dialogue or action. Post feedback on Bungie.net. Stosh and I will be monitoring closely for your thoughts. It doesn’t go without saying how valuable your contribution to Destiny 2 is, and we want to ensure we’re providing the right tools and features to support your gaming experience.

Would You Like to Know More?

Destiny Hotfix 1.2.0.2 has shipped, but we still have some issues to address. As they say, the only good bug is a dead one. Destiny Player Support has the information you need to take on the threat.

This is their report.

Destiny 2 Hotfix 1.2.0.2

This week we deployed Hotfix 1.2.0.2 to players. Among the fixes to game issues, we resolved an issue blocking characters from appearing in the official Destiny Companion App, Bungie.net, and third-party applications that rely on the Destiny API.

Warmind Known Issues

With the launch of Destiny 2: Warmind, Destiny Player Support has continued to monitor player chatter regarding issues players are encountering in the wild. Those who do run into issues in Destiny 2: Warmind should make our Warmind: Vital Information and Known Issues thread their first stop for information on potential workarounds. As always, players who experience issues should report them to the #Help forum.

Listed below are a couple of items that we believe require further explanation to assist in mitigating their impact:

Heroic Strike Progress and Boons of the Vanguard

Progress toward the weekly Heroic strikes milestone, as well as toward some endgame quests, will be blocked when players activate a Boon of the Vanguard. Characters who enter this state will be unable to make progress on any pursuit that requires Heroic strike completions until the Boon expires.

As we continue to investigate this issue, we recommend that players save their Boons until after they have completed the pursuits mentioned above.

Clan XP Milestones and Powerful Gear

Currently players are not receiving powerful gear from Hawthorne when completing and turning in the weekly Clan XP milestone.

Players can work around this issue by completing the Clan XP milestone, then waiting for the next weekly reset to pass. After the new week starts, the previous week’s milestone will autodecrypt and correctly award powerful gear.

Additionally, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind players that Power progression from weekly clan engrams has changed with Destiny 2 Update 1.2.0. For details, players should revisit This Week at Bungie – 4/18/2018 for more information. 

Try This at Home

Grab your popcorn. Don’t forget the butter. We’ve got a few Community Creations well worth a watch, especially if you’re looking for a good strategy to take on the “Spire of Stars” raid lair.

Movie of the Week: World First

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Honorable Mention: Pure Power

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Honorable Mention: Sleeper Strikes Again

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1v1:

4v4:

See you on Mars? Maybe we’ll bump into each other. I have a bit of data to collect.

Cheers,

Dmg04

The folks at Take-Two Interactive have published their financials for the year ended March 31, 2018, and it appears the U.S. publisher had a good year fueled primarily by recurrent spending in games like Grand Theft Auto Online.

Notably, Take-Two reports $173.5 million (GAAP) in net income on $1.79 billion in net revenues for the year, which is just a bit more revenue and quite a bit more profit (roughly 158 percent more) than the company saw in the year prior, when it earned $67.3 million on $1.78 billion in revenues.

Recurrent consumer spending (think: sales of DLC, in-game currency, etc.) reportedly grew 63 percent to account for 42 percent of the year’s total net revenue, which is quite a bit more than the 26 percent of total net revenue it accounted for last (fiscal) year.

The big revenue-generators this year were, unsurprisingly, led by Grand Theft Auto V / Grand Theft Auto Online, NBA 2K17 / NBA 2K18, WWE 2K18, and WWE SuperCard. 

GTA Online was cited as an especially over-performing earner in the fourth quarter of the year, which actually came in a bit lower year-over-year. For just the three months ending March 31st, Take-Two reported $90.9 million in net income on $540.3 million in revenues, a bit less than the $99.3 million it earned on $571.6 million in sales it saw in the same quarter a year prior. 

“During the fourth quarter, Take-Two delivered Net Bookings growth driven by increased recurrent consumer spending – including better-than-expected results from Grand Theft Auto Online,” stated company chief Strauss Zelnick in the earnings release. “Grand Theft Auto Online and NBA2K generated record results, exceeding our original expectations, and we benefited from strong ongoing sales of Grand Theft Auto V and other catalog titles.”

In the year ahead, the company aims to hit $180-$211 million in profits on $2.5-$2.6 billion in revenue, driven largely by recurrent spending and the debut of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 in late October. 

Omensight, the new game from Stories: Path of Destinies developer Spearhead Games, was an 18 month effort that managed to clearly build on the strengths of its predecessor. Since we were intrigued by the premise of an ‘action murder mystery’ with mechanics you typically see in hack-and-slash games, we decided to invite the games’ developers onto the Gamasutra Twitch channel earlier today for a chat about their development process. 

Spearhead Games co-creator Malik Boukhira was kind enough to join us for that discussion, which you can now watch in its entirety up above. As it turns out, Boukhira told us that Omensight only took a toatl of 18 months to develop, and was able to share some of the methods Spearhead Games used to create assets quickly and manage a sprawling array of narrative scenarios. 

If you’re curious about how everything from studying the animation of Street Fighter, to Wing Chun, to hard-boiled detective novels influenced the development of Omensight, be sure to give it a watch! 

And while you’re at it, be sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for more developer interviews, editor roundtables and gameplay commentary. 

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PDT today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta Ring will begin receiving the latest Xbox One system update (1805.180504-1920). Read on for more about the fixes and known issues in the latest system update.

Fixes:

Audio

• We have fixed the issue with users encountering a loss of Audio playing Final Fantasy XV.

 Apps

• We have fixed additional launch and activation issues in certain apps.

Display 120Hz

• We have fixed issues in which certain users could not select 120Hz on certain displays when color depth was set to anything but 8-bit.

Games

• We have fixed stability issues in the network configuration that resulted in certain games crashing under certain network conditions.

GameDVR Clips

• We have fixed an issue that caused uploading to live clips in 4k to 1080p fail.

Microsoft Edge

• Fixed issues with Microsoft Edge failing to take the user to the correct settings under certain conditions (etc. overscan border settings)
• Fixed issues with the stability of Microsoft Edge crashing under certain user scenarios.

My Games and Apps

• After any cold boot or silent boot, if the console is put into Instant On, it has a chance of having no background downloads of Apps or Games working until waking the console from Instant On again.

Network

• We have fixed issues when Users may get randomly signed out from Xbox Live if they get a connectivity hiccup. This would also boot/kick users out of whatever game they’re playing with a message like “you must be online to play this game”.

Party Chat

• Fixes to the stability of Party chat.  Users will no longer lose audio from certain games while a party chat session is open.

Virtual Keyboard

• Fixed issues with the virtual keyboard disappearing when the user was inputting text.

Wi-Fi

• We have fixed issues with users loosing Wi-Fi coming out of Instant-On.

Known Issues:

Audio

• Some users may experience intermittent loss of Audio with certain configurations of AV receivers with ATMOS or with changing audio configurations during console use.
• We are investigating reports of loss of audio in some games when resuming from Instant-On.  Please file feedback when this occurs.
• We are aware that some users with Denon or Marantz receivers and the LG SJ9 soundbar are experiencing Audio issues.

Pi-hole

• Pi-hole users may encounter issues signing in, creating, or recovering accounts upon downloading the 1804 update. This is due to a new configuration file which is downloaded from a URL Pi-hole blocks by default.
• Workaround: Add clientconfig.passport.net to the Pi-hole allowed IP address list.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Networking

• Work continues on the stability of the Wi-Fi connectivity.  If you see any issues please report the problems for investigation.

YouTube

• Some users are encountering an issue where their YouTube account is being signed out whenever they launch the app.
  
  • Workaround: Uninstall/re-install the app and sign in with your account again.

Thursday has rolled around once more, so it’s time to see what delights Nintendo has brought to its various eShops with this week’s Nintendo Download. As always, be sure to leave a vote in our poll and drop us a comment or two in the comments section on which games you’ll be picking up…

Switch eShop

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Nintendo, $59.99) – Cut down enemy hordes as characters from the Legend of Zelda series. You even play co-op multiplayer with a friend on one system! All features and downloadable content from past versions of the game, including My Fairy mode and elements from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, can be enjoyed in crisp HD on the Nintendo Switch system. The fate of Hyrule rests in your hands! The Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition game will be available on May 18. Read our review.

Runner3 (Choice Provisions, $25.49) – The Timbletot is determined to rid the multiverse of all its love and happiness. CommanderVideo, a lover if ever there were one, refuses to let this happen. He’s ready to jump, double-jump, wall-jump, slide-jump, slide, kick, float, drive, fly and dance his way to victory, all across a medley of thrilling, challenging and joyous levels. The Runner3 game will be available on May 22.

Little Nightmares: Complete Edition (Bandai Namco, $12.99) – Do you remember your childhood fears? Immerse yourself in the Little Nightmares Complete Edition game, a dark whimsical tale that will confront you with your childhood fears as you help Six & The Kid escape The Maw – a vast, mysterious vessel inhabited by corrupted souls looking for their next meal. Little Nightmares Complete Edition will be available on May 18.

Mega Man Legacy Collection (Capcom, $14.99) – The Mega Man Legacy Collection game is a celebration of the 8-bit history of Capcom’s iconic Blue Bomber. Featuring faithful reproductions of the series’ origins with the original six Mega Man games, the Legacy Collection will remind longtime fans and introduce newcomers to what made Mega Man such a popular and iconic character. Mega Man Legacy Collection will be available on May 22.

Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (Capcom, $19.99) – The Blue Bomber is back in this second collection of classic Mega Man games. Featuring faithful reproductions of Mega Man 7, 8, 9, & 10, this collection spans the iconic series’ evolution and retro revolution. Take on the nefarious Dr. Wily and his diverse Robot Masters in these timeless 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit adventures. The Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 game will be available on May 22.

ACA NEOGEO BASEBALL STARS PROFESSIONAL (HAMSTER, $7.99) – “BASEBALL STARS PROFESSIONAL” is a sports game released in 1990 by SNK. One of the launch titles as the NEOGEO debuted, it came with both a VS Mode and Tournament Mode. The dynamic animation and powerful productions made for an exciting game.

The Banner Saga (Versus Evil, $19.99) – Live through an epic role-playing Viking saga where your strategic choices directly affect your personal journey. Make allies as you travel with your caravan across this stunning yet harsh landscape. 

Fairune Collection (Flyhigh Works, $8.99) – Fairune Collection includes four games in one package – Fairune, Fairune 2, Fairune Origin and Fairune Blast!

FRAMED Collection (Surprise Attack, $8.99) – The FRAMED Collection is a new compilation of the critically-acclaimed, multi-award winning noir puzzle games FRAMED and FRAMED 2.

Ice Cream Surfer (Dolores Entertainment S.L., $8.00) – The evil Broccoli, irritated by the fact that kids hate vegetables and love ice creams, has created an army of vegetables to destroy the flavor galaxy. Only the Ice Cream Surfer with the help of his 4 super tasty friends can prevent that. Read our review.

Invisiballs (Digital Kingdom, $12.99) – Invisiballs is a competitive local multiplayer game for 2 to 4 players. Played on a single, top-down, shared screen, everyone controls an invisible ball inside a maze and must capture a golden artifact to win the game. Designed entirely around a new type of gameplay set in a minimalist universe, Invisiballs is simple with a deep learning curve. Nervous and precise, Invisiballs is for players who love to play competitive games with their friends.

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Super Burger Time (FTE Games, $6.99) – Super Burger Time, play as Peter Pepper Jr. and complete the burgers, but watch out for Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg and the dangerous Mr. Pickle!

White Night  (Plug In Digital, $14.99) – Explore the macabre past of an old mansion in the 1930’s and solve puzzles of light and shadows in this fully black & white survival horror! Players are trapped in this nightmare where darkness is a constant threat!

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles (Prideful Sloth, $26.99) – Yonder is set in the world of Gemea. A natural island paradise with eight distinct environments ranging from tropical beaches to snow-capped summits.

The Mystery of the Hudson Case (Magic Frame Studios, $4.89) – Welcome to a new title of our saga The Mystery! This time we bring you The Mystery of the Hudson Case!

Never Stop (Pixelsplit, $4.99) – The longer you keep moving without getting stopped by one of the many obstacles or traps, the more points you get. How long can you manage this thrill of speed? Will you be able to dominate your friends in multiplayer?

The Adventures of Elena Temple (GRIMTALIN, $4.99) – The game is a monochromatic puzzle platformer made to look as if it were created in the 80s. Overcome obstacles, figure out how to collect all the coins, find all the gems and remember your childhood while doing it! Progress through the game’s dungeon through non-linear exploration and keep an open eye for secrets to find.

Wizard of Legend (Humble Bundle, $15.99) – Wizard of Legend is a fast-paced dungeon crawler with an emphasis on dynamic magical combat. Quick movement and even quicker use of spells will allow you to chain spells together to unleash devastating combinations against your enemies! Unlock over 100 unique spells and discover powerful spell combinations! A wide variety of elemental spells allows you to create a hand best suited to your play style. Dive head first into the fray or stand back and let your minions do the work for you. Play solo or co-op! The choice is yours! Read our review.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Nordic Games, $39.99) – Battle Chasers: Nightwar is an RPG inspired by the console genre-greats, featuring deep dungeon diving, turn-based combat presented in classic JRPG format, and a rich story driven by exploration of the world. Read our review.

Calculation Castle : Greco’s Ghostly Challenge “Subtraction” (media5, $9.99) – Now children can study Subtraction on the Nintendo Switch! Let’s challenge Greco’s Calculation Castle!

Calculation Castle : Greco’s Ghostly Challenge “Addition” (media5, $9.99) – Now children can study Addition on the Nintendo Switch! Greco and his ghosts await your challenge!

Calculation Castle : Greco’s Ghostly Challenge “Division” (media5, $9.99) – Now children can study Division on the Nintendo Switch! Greco and his ghosts await in the greatest obstacle: The Calculation Castle!

Calculation Castle : Greco’s Ghostly Challenge “Multiplication” (media5, $9.99) – Now children can study Multiplication on Nintendo Switch! Use your math skills to defeat Greco!

Disco Dodgeball – REMIX (Zen Studios, $11.99) – Disco Dodgeball – REMIX is a ridiculous physics-based futuresport combining robots, one-hit-kill projectile combat and crazy dodgeball action. Dodge, deflect and catch enemy fire as you perform ridiculous aerial stunt shots with your mustachio’d unicycle robot and enjoy the voice of a booming monster truck driver announcer when you score! Play a wide variety of classic and expert game modes in singleplayer, local multiplayer, or online multilpayer matches. Available May 22.

Henry The Hamster Handler (Pocket Money Games, $3.69) – Join the team at Hamsters Inc. as they delve into the practice and reveal that hamsters must endure as many near-death experiences as possible and over time the little furry balls of fun turn into bronze, silver, and gold! It’s your job to ensure that they survive the ordeal before they get melted down and turned into a fancy pair of earrings! Available May 18.

Kitten Squad (Arcade Distillery, Free) – Sadistic robots have enslaved orcas at SeaLand Marine Park. The evil Sheep Puncher robot has kidnapped sheep for the twisted wool industry. Only the Kitten Squad is up to the task of saving these gentle animals. Players must guide the Kitten Squad, armed with weaponry ranging from carrot rocket launchers to yarn ball guns, on missions to defeat the evil robots and free the animals in this action game brought to you by PETA.

3DS eShop

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (Atlus, $39.99) – With its twisted demonic sci-fi story, addictive demon-collecting fun, and multiple narrative paths to explore, Strange Journey Redux is an essential ATLUS JRPG adventure that can’t be missed!

Block-a-Pix Color (Lightwood Games, $7.99) – Reveal the picture by dividing the grid into smaller rectangular blocks. Each block must contain one clue number, which tells you the number of grid squares covered by that block and the color the block will be painted.

Demos

Nintendo Switch

Happy Birthdays – Demo Version (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch) – Available May 22

Urban Trial Playground – Demo Version (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch)

Activities

Nintendo Labo Creators Contest for Best Toy-Con Mod Using Toy-Con Garage Ends Next Week – Make, play and discover with Nintendo Labo! Create your masterpiece using a Nintendo Labo kit and a Nintendo Switch system, then post a video or picture of your creation to the My Nintendo – Nintendo Labo Creators Contest site for a chance to win some great prizes.* The “Best Toy-Con mod using Toy-Con Garage” contest ends on 10:59 a.m. PT on May 25, so act fast!
Are you curious about what other My Nintendo members have made so far? Check out them out here, and be sure to click the “Like” button for your favorite creations!

* Void where prohibited. Open to legal residents of the U.S. and Canada, ages 13+. Nintendo Switch system and Nintendo Labo kit required. Contest begins 11AM PT on 4/20/18 and ends at 10:59AM PT on 5/11/18 for the Best Decorated Toy-Con Contest Category, 10:59AM PT on 5/25/18 for the Best Toy-Con Mod Using Toy-Con Garage Contest Category, and 10:59AM PT on 6/15/18 for the Best Original Invention Using Toy-Con Garage Contest Category. To enter, upload your photo or video of your Toy-Con creation or invention as detailed in the Official Rules. 9 winners will each receive One (1) Nintendo Labo Variety Kit (ARV: $ $69.99 USD) or Nintendo Labo Robot Kit (ARV: $79.99 USD), one (1) Nintendo Labo Creators Jacket (ARV: $ 70.00 USD), and one (1) award certificate (ARV: $ 70.00 USD). ARV of each prize package: $209.99-$219.99 USD. Total ARV of all prizes: $1,889.91-$1,979.91 USD. Chances of winning a prize depend on eligibility and quality of entries received, and how well each meets the judging criteria. Details and restrictions apply. For Official Rules, visit https://labo.nintendo.com/share/#!/contest-rules Sponsor: Nintendo of America Inc.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition My Nintendo Rewards – To celebrate the Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition game launch, My Nintendo is offering themed rewards, including two free character printables (printable 1 and 2) and a new wallpaper redeemable with My Nintendo points. Check out more rewards at https://my.nintendo.com/news/e5335141c5d8c4dd.

So that’s your lot for this week. Be sure to drop a vote in the poll and leave a comment with your hot picks below…

Long time Nintendo fans may remember Bandai Namco’s Go Vacation on the Wii, which we weren’t exactly bowled over by at the time. Anyway, it seems Bandai Namco has heard the demands for a remake, and the game will be coming to Switch on 27th July.

In the game, you go on vacation to the tropical Kawawii island and stay in a special resort. Activities on the resort range from sky diving and beach volleyball to tennis and even snowball fights; it seems the island has quite a varied climate. The game boasts more than 50 mini-games and activities to enjoy.

Some of these games will be co-op and some will be competitive. They can be played solo or with up to four players via a single Nintendo Switch system or local wireless. Several activities offer the option to use motion controls, making swinging your tennis racket and throwing snowballs even more fun and immersive.

You’ll get to discover new surprises each day as you adventure through the four different resort areas on Kawawii island. While exploring – either on foot, on horseback, on a snowmobile or more – you’ll discover numerous collectibles, challenges and other opportunities to level up and customise your character.

You can decorate your own villa, enjoy a delicious meal at one of the food trucks and snap in-game photos of the dozens of adorable animals hiding in each resort. Regular challenges and presents, like special costumes and different dog breeds, will keep you coming back for hours of Kawawii island adventures.

Check out the trailer above and let us know if you plan to pick up Go Vacation for your Switch in July with a comment below.

Animal Super Squad is Now Available on Steam!

Animal Super Squad is a physics-based adventure game that lets you play as your favorite animal. Speed through a world full of dangers and bananas. Create your own levels, share them with the community, or forget all that nonsense and just play other people’s stuff.