Dcubed

Astral Chain today.

Just saw this floating around... One man's journey to find out who voiced the announcer for Super Monkey Ball! A genuinely riveting watch!

Just caught up on things... very ballsy for Microsoft to give up completely on trying to make a console in an actual console form factor. This thing is literally a PC now, complete with ITX tower case. It also basically guarantees that the Series X will significantly outgun the PS5 in terms of specs; purely because they now have so much more headroom to work with in terms of heat & wattage distribution; even physical hardware upgrades aren't out of the question. I'm starting to see what they're going for here... Scarlett (Series X) will basically be the no-compromises approach, complete with full ITX size case, while Lockhart (Series S) will retain the console form factor, but come with lesser specs and a much cheaper price. Series X will probably target 4K (or fake 8K) while Series S will target 1080p (or fake 4K). $799.99 for Series X and $399.99 for Series S, with Game Pass being the real killer app. I can see this working. Sony might well be caught in the middle of no mans land here... Especially with Microsoft having Game Pass, the expensive hardware/super cheap software approach has worked absolute wonders on smartphones and I can definitely see this working with dedicated gaming... Couple this with lower-end support going to Switch/Switch 2 and Microsoft have a pretty effective three-way pincer attack going on Sony.

So... the second game is actually the third game!? This really IS New Final Fantasy!

Yeah, we considered a reverse race a long time ago, but sadly it couldn't work because the game would boot you offline for staying reversed for more than 30 seconds (yeah, we did try it). If it works in Battle Mode though? Hellz yeah!

I love how we got the same clip but from different angles Here's a few more I nabbed from tonight...

Bloody horrendous night! My poor average!!

Glen's dead, go on without him and let him rot.

Death Stranding basically has TGA GOTY in the bag. Smash (or any of Nintendo’s titles) are basically ineligible for the award. Unless you’re a worldwide multiplayer phenomenon (i.e Fortnite or Overwatch), only cinematic 3rd person action games are eligible for the TGA GOTY award. Looking forward to seeing Arthur from Gn’G get into Smash tonight though!

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/12/sonys_mlb_the_show_is_no_longer_a_playstation_exclusive Looks like Sony have officially gone 3rd party!

Likewise! DKR is a fab Xmas game! N64 in general is a great Xmas console. It's definitely the console I associate with Xmas the most (helped not in small part by the fact that most of its big releases were Xmas releases. Seriously! You could cut out the entierty of its library that was released outside of the October-December period and you'd still be left with more than half of its heavy hitters! )

Why wouldn't it be required? All online connectivity requires the subscription. Thanks Microsoft. I gave the Ninji speedruns a go... 2 hours later, I'm going mad trying to top the leaderboard! That and I had to check to make sure that the update didn't break my Try Turning it On and Off Again level... thankfully it still works properly! Got some great ideas for new levels... just gotta see if I can find time and energy to make them now.

Boom! Here's Episode 4! Stick around till the end for a very festive message from all of us here on A Smashing Cast!

Thanks for your patience. We have not one, but TWO new smashing episodes of A Smashing Cast for your enjoyment! Now that we're back on track, we should be able to keep to a more consistent schedule. Look out for Episode 4 coming later this week!

Pretty ironic considering that the BBC have basically been a propaganda outlet for the Tories throughout this entire election.

The new stuff looks cool, though I'm surprised that there's no sign of a new theme yet. The Master Sword looks like it has some neat potential, if a bit OP. Wish we had more new gadgets to go along with it, rather than new enemies though. Ninji Speedruns is basically the aftershadows from Super Meat Boy lol. Overall, not a bad little update, if a bit underwhelming after all this time.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/12/feature_jez_san_on_star_fox_super_fx_and_teaching_nintendo_how_to_fly An excellent interview with Jez San, the founder of Argonaut Games, as he discusses his career, his time at Nintendo and the fabled Super Visor VR headset that was cancelled in favour of the Virtual Boy!

I got a Feebas through it. What's your problem?

Had no idea that SEGA did a new printing of the SOA soundtrack, let alone that the SEGA store was selling it! Will have to go and cop that... Edit: Aaaaaaannnnndddd done! Thanks for the heads up guys! Would've totally have missed it otherwise!

The point isn’t that Nintendo have stopped making quality games, or that their output as a publisher isn’t great. The point is that the output from their internal studios has plummeted ever since they merged EAD and SPD in 2016. And that Intelligent Systems seem to have all but given up on making titles for traditional gaming devices; having released literally nothing for Switch for three years (though it’s worth noting that they released Shadows of Valentia in 2017 and also co-developed Wario Ware Gold for the 3DS alongside EPD). It’s concerning that their output has dropped so dramatically; and that they have relied so heavily on leaning on their existing Wii U games & assets (whether you count direct Wii U ports, or sequels that are clearly built on top of existing Wii U games - of which BOTW 2 will be yet another). Meanwhile, they’ve been very productive on mobile... There is reason to be concerned; as things aren’t going smoothly internally at Nintendo at all. Sure, Monolith Soft are doing great, as are Nintendo’s affiliated 2nd parties, but EPD and Intelligent Systems? We already know that Metroid Prime 4 crashed and burned, and there’s reason to suspect that Namco and Nintendo had a falling out behind the scenes (evidenced by what Namco did with Dark Souls Remastered, their refusal to support the platform with proper day-and-date releases and the fact that Ring Fit Adventure is the first EAD/EPD production since 2014 to have no involvement from Namco or Monolith Soft as co-developer); which is a big problem because EPD/EAD have leaned heavily on Namco as a support developer ever since 2014. It’s clear that something isn’t right with EPD right now...

Almost all of those were developed by outside/affiliated studios. Even FETH was entirely outsourced to Koei Tecmo. Throughout the Switch’s entire lifecycle, this is the entirety of Nintendo EPD and Intelligent System’s output (bolded are ports, italics are games built on top of existing Wii U games) 1,2,Switch The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ARMS Splatoon 2 Super Mario Odyssey Nintendo Labo Vol 1-4 (Mostly based on cancelled Wii and Wii U prototypes; most notably Project Giant Robot and Wii Motorbike) Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido (co-developed with Indieszero; also a 3DS port) New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe Super Mario Maker 2 Ring Fit Adventure [addendum] For those unaware; Captain Toad Switch/3DS was made by NST, not EPD. That’s it. That’s their whole output after almost three years. Pathetic. Meanwhile EPD has launched (and has actively maintained) 5 original mobile titles; and has co-developed Dragalia Lost. While Intelligent Systems has made illegal amounts of money with their flagship game, Fire Emblem Heroes. They have both literally made more original mobile titles in the last three years than Switch games. Their priorities are clear as day.

Yup, Furukawa has completely abandoned Iwata’s plan to use mobile as a means of advertising Nintendo IP and converting mobile players to Nintendo platforms. The moment that Nintendo signed a deal with CyGames to co-develop and publish Dragalia Lost (a completely original IP) was the moment it became clear that Furukawa had no intention of following through with any of Iwata’s plans. Now the majority of Nintendo EPD are working on supporting current and upcoming mobile titles; and the company has gone all in on gacha/Skinner box gambling for mobile. While their current diversification is long overdue for the company (and should’ve happened well over a decade ago); it does mean that they’re moving away from their reliance on traditional dedicated gaming hardware. Very very sad... Let’s just pray that they don’t end up in another Wii U situation again, or else it’s Game Over for traditional Nintendo titles and hardware platforms for good...

The document is now online: Here That document is fucking grim... As an NHS nurse myself, it makes my skin just utterly crawl... God help us all of the tories get in. The country is completely doomed unless Labour manage to pull off a miracle

COME ON ARTHUR MY SON!!!

No you don't need to be always online. There are no single player or local multiplayer modes unless you buy the Big Block DLC though (which comes with the physical version out of the box); as it only comes with the online Tetris 99 mode as standard (which kind of is the whole point of this game). But the two versions are identical if you buy the Big Block DLC.