Dcubed

They have had ample opportunity to showcase the game's big new features before. The game was announced 6 months ago, and yet we have seen literally no new gameplay features that weren't already in Splatoon 2. The onus is on them to prove me wrong here, because they've done an awful job selling this game so far.

Oh no way would it be even remotely balanced. This is almost certainly a debug menu/feature that was originally made for the game’s developers to quickly test and iterate on the different boxers’ movesets. I’m certain it was never intended to actually be used in the final release by the player. Still an amazing discovery though! Love when stuff like this gets found years after the fact!

It’s because all of those other games offer some genuinely new and exciting gameplay concepts that justify their existence. Splatoon 3 (from everything we’ve seen so far) however, is just a glorified map pack DLC being sold as a full priced game.

Excuse me, but what the hell!? How the hell did this go undiscovered for so long!?!?

Fully agreed. Splatoon 2 being a glorified port of Splatoon 1 was acceptable as a launch window title; but now? On the same console? I literally don't even know why this game exists. I don't see the point in making another nearly identical game for the current Switch; should've just been held back for Switch 2 if you're not gonna do anything radically new.

Right. Last chance for Nintendo to prove that this game is anything more than just a glorified map pack for Splatoon 2. I'm not holding my breath for this one. Have been thoroughly unimpressed with everything shown so far.

Right! Time to rate the tracks of Wave 2... This track is... a bit bland overall. It's similar to Tokyo Blur in how it's made up of a series of corridors that lead to a few turns here & there and not much in the way of more open areas. There are a few more wrinkles in play here, with a few diverging & reconverging paths, and the leaking manholes that give the opportunity for a cheeky trick boost; but there isn't much going on in terms of corner cutting and shortcuts, outside of a few stretches of grass that can be mushroomed over. The theming is nice though, and it looks a fair bit better than its original MKT counterpart thanks to the MK8 engine's superior lighting system and reflections, makes a big difference; but ultimately, the track design itself is very ho-hum and there just isn't much interesting going on from a gameplay perspective. Music is ok, not too memorable within the pantheon of the series however... that being said though, I really wanna see Donkey Kong: The Musical. Given how incredible of a singer DK is? It must be one hell of a show! It's the original SNES Mario Circuit 3. There... aren't many changes to speak of that have been made from its original SNES counterpart, or indeed the MKT version; which means that it's still a very solid track, if very flat... much like a real go-kart track. What I will say though is that the corners are very tight to make with MK8's kart physics model... I can only imagine the chaos that 200cc will be, as you'll be spending half the track having to brake Now, @Glen-i has already mentioned how much of a glow-up this track was from it's original N64 counterpart; but what he didn't mention was how much better it is compared to its MKT counterpart too! Now, MKT introduced an alternative version of Kalimari Desert called... well... Kalimari Desert 2. So what they've done here is essentially what they did with the likes of Paris Promenade & Tokyo Blur, by combining all of these variants into one single track; and the combination here ends up being far better than the sum of its parts. What was once two long, boring and largely eventless tracks, gets turned into something far more manic and enjoyable; cutting out the boring downtime and condensing the best parts of each variant into a much more enjoyable experience. The train is now a constant threat that will cause pileups of chaos, and I am very looking forward to a 12 player night on this track! The visuals also recieve a nice glow-up under MK8's lighting engine and the music arrangement is very pleasantly light, but just jazz enough. Defo wins the award for Most Improved Track of the Booster Course Pass so far. It's Waluigi Pinball... now with 200cc and 12 players! A brilliant track gets even better! While it's clearly based on the MKT version, reusing the same geometry & art assets, they have restored the original pinball patterns (which were toned down significantly in MKT) and have even made things more manic by making the pinball delete item boxes when they pass by them now. They've only made very subtle tweaks here, but that's all they needed to do. This was already one of the best tracks in the series, and this rendition certainly does justice to it. The enhanced lighting & reflection effects also go a long way towards making it look much better than the MKT version... but that being said? This track loses some points for reusing the existing Wario Stadium DS arrangment from the base game, instead of giving us something new (Yes, both tracks used the same music in the original DS game, but it's a bit disappointing here, as it's now the only track in the entire game that doesn't get a unique piece of music). Also the gutter ball sound is missing... funnily enough, this is something that also happened with MKT's rendition of the track and it was eventually fixed; so naturally, I suspect that Nintendo will correct this oversight when Wave 3 launches. If New York Minute is the Tokyo Blur of this wave? Then this is the Paris Promenade of Wave 2. The original MKT versions (yes, plural) of this track were all kind of bland on their own... but when combined? Oh boy! NOW it's something worth getting excited about! There's a lot of interesting corner cutting opportunities, alternate paths, cheeky flying sections and mushroom shortcuts going on here; and unlike previous MKT variant courses, this one essentially combines all of its variants to make one long track that essentially consists of one lap, ALA Rainbow Road N64. Overall, the track design is quite reminiscient of Sunshine Airport, but mixed with Animal Crossing with the way you can cut so many corners with mushrooms. It's a lot of fun, and certainly one of the best tracks in this wave... but the real winner here is the music. Dear GOD it is fantastic! Easily the best song that the Booster Course Pass has blessed us with so far. That sax solo is so good that I think it may well give The Mario Kart Lick a run for its money! Fantabulous stuff! Snow Land continues the grand Mario Kart 8 tradition of taking GBA tracks and stuffing them full of verticality. Much like Cheese Land before it, the track has been significantly widened up and given tons of opportunities for cutting corners and taking FUCKING AWESOME SHORTCUTS! While this track perhaps hasn't been overhauled quite as much as the likes of Ribbon Road and Cheese Land? They've taken the best elements of the original GBA track and they've really opened up its design, enabling the player to use their own ingenuity to carve their own path through each lap. I also appreciate how it messes with your kart's grip with the ice physics and snow; there's a lot going on here that makes it really fun and dynamic to play. There's gonna be a lot of upsets on this track, and I'm looking forward to a full 12 player race on this beast. Visuals are also really top notch, a good step up from the tracks seen in Wave 1, likely down to the fact that this track did NOT originate from MKT; while the newly arranged music is positively delightful, like playing Christmas itself! One of my favourites from the Booster Course Pass for sure Now this one is interesting. It's a track taken from MKT... but its actually been changed quite a lot from its mobile counterpart! While MKT follows the track design of the original MK Wii version pretty closely, this one actually combines elements from the MK7 version, the MK Wii version and even introducing an entirely new shortcut section (found near the left of the starting line) not seen before in any previous rendition of this track! Seemingly unable to decide on what version to base this MK8DXBCPW2 (what a mouthful!) track on, Nintendo have actually taken the gliding section from MK7 and have combined it with the twin pathways of the MK Wii version; to make three different pathways within the tunnel section! It's an interesting decision that makes this track feel different from any previous version seen before. Though I am a bit disappointed in the fact that the music is really not much different from the original version of the tune, and that the left path before the tunnel is still completely pointless; would've been nice to see a few more touch-ups in those places. Still, Mushroom Gorge was always a solid track, and this version feels distinct enough from past renditions to make this one feel fresh. Good job Nintendo! Woah!!! Nintendo lied!!! This aint no remaster, it's an entirely brand new track!!!!! Holy SHIT! Unlike the previous tracks seen throughout the Booster Course Pass, this one features Mario Kart 8's unique gameplay mechanics; most notably, anti-gravity. What makes this track even more unique is that it combines anti-gravity with extensive flying sections, giving it some... interesting physics that can be exploited! That being said? The actual course design leaves something to be desired, it's all quite straight and narrow; and the visuals are below the standard of the base game, despite debuting first in MK8DXBCPW2 (just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?). This is also admittedly a bit of a nitpick, but I really dislike how the handrails (that act as anti-gravity boosters) have no animation or anti-grav design of any kind on them; I literally didn't even know that they were anti-gravity boosters until I accidentally rammed into one, it kind of makes Sky High Sundae feel a bit like a homebrew hack track, rather than an official product. The music is also pretty low tier as far as MK8 music goes; not bad, but just not up to the standard set by other songs within the BCP, let alone the base game. Overall, it's a nice enough track, but it feels somewhat unfinished and unpolished. Much like a typical sundae, this track feels sloppy and slapped together. Still, I'm desperate enough for completely original Mario Kart content that I'll gladly take it. Edit: The Mario Kart Tour version got revealed just now, just about 72 hours after the MK8DX release. Yeah, I'm comfortable calling this one a MKT port and not a truly original MK8DX track. Was clearly never originally meant to be an anti-gravity stage; the physics exploits are a clear giveaway, as are the really janky anti-grav boost handrails (that's some proper homebrew hack job that I am shocked that Nintendo deemed ok in a shipping product!). And with that? Here's my ranking for the tracks of Wave 2...

Heads up. Looks like this latest update has actually changed quite a lot more than first meets the eye... NERD ALERT!!!! CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO KART PHYSICS ACROSS THE ENTIRE GAME!!! WEIGHT PROPERTIES HAVE NOW CHANGED FOR ALL KART/CHARACTER COMBOS!!! Check out a list of the weight property changes made here on the Mario Wiki... You may want to rethink your current preferred Kart/Character combo setups now... This site is very helpful for figuring out ideal setups; including the hidden stats that the game doesn't actually show you in-game.

Ok.

Oh? You sure about that buddy?

Download speeds get throttled while a game is running in the background. Closing (not suspending!) your game will speed up your download.

I have Theatrhythm Dragon Quest. It's fun, but I prefer the side-on view from Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. It's also super budget in its presentation (moreso than the FF Theatrhythm games); the title screen is so sad it's hilarious. It does help scratch the itch for more Theatrhythm; though sadly the RPG elements are a bit lost on me with it being all in Japanese. You know what's even better though? Theatrhythm All Star Carnival; the arcade-only entry in the series. The Freeplay City arcade in London actually has an All Star Carnival cabinet, and it's tons of fun! Dual-handed Theatrhythm is wild! And the music selection is insane! It even has a couple of tracks from Octopath Traveller! And there's an all-new difficulty level beyond Ultimate that you have to unlock by achieving SS rank in any given song. If you're in London, you should go there. It's great fun!

Bingo. That’s exactly how it works. Anything that isn’t an Xbox Series game (OG Xbox, 360, Xbone) can run directly off of an external HDD.

Same director (Yasunori Matsuno) and much of the same staff worked on both games. The original Final Fantasy Tactics (same universe as FF12) is also a direct gameplay (but not story) sequel to Tactics Ogre as well. So yes, there is a shared lineage that directly connects Tactics Ogre to FF12. Looking forward to this one. Just hope it gets the boost of nitro it needs, because the core gameplay is great… but it’s so sllllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwww!!!

And there it is. Tencent finally makes their big play into western AAA publishing. Was only a matter of time. And it’s a perfect fit for them, considering Ubisoft’s international developer studio presence (including China). Now. Will Tencent take the next step and attempt to come out swinging with their own PC/Console platform? BTW, do note that under French law, reaching 30% ownership of a company means that you must attempt a takeover (hostile or otherwise), so this really is probably the end of Ubisoft as an independent entity.

Called it

Well, we're comparing 2017 to 2022; so COVID doesn't really factor in this case. XB3 should be up significantly in terms of digital sales though. We won't really know for sure until the next financial quarter though.

Related news... https://www.gamesindustry.biz/xenoblade-chronicles-3-is-the-biggest-xeno-game-launch-in-the-uk-so-far-uk-boxed-charts Disappointing result for Xenoblade 3 here in the UK, pretty much on par with XB2 and XB:DE at retail at least; so, basically no notable growth over its predecessors. Hopefully it fares better elsewhere (no doubt that France will be where it really rakes in the big series growth in particular). Surprisingly good results for Shredder's Revenge (physical) and Digimon Survive (of all things!) though. Also, that's a pretty good 2nd week for Live A Live; RPGs normally have a much bigger 2nd week drop-off than 64%; I reckon that it'll handidly hit the millie WW when all is said and done

It'll manage it. The legs are too strong not to. Scarlet/Violet will knock it back down to 10th though... though it may well still beat out BD/SP when all is said & done.

Yes, Sony have also experienced a significant software sales dropoff, but it's especially worrying for Nintendo when you consider how much stronger the Switch's software lineup is in Q1/Q2 2022 compared to Q1/Q2 2021... 3rd party software isn't managing to pick up the slack, indicating that people are spending their money elsewhere.

The most interesting part of these sales is the pretty large drop-off in software sales within the US... People are starting to get tired of the current Switch hardware... Nintendo had better not be considering waiting much longer before announcing that successor...

Legends Arceus got Sun/Moon'd... hard. Thanks Scarlet/Violet!

The 8 gyms + Elite 4 are probably the only thing that you will be getting with this game in terms of actual game structure. It's an open world game that's clearly attempting to knock off BOTW, so I fully expect all 8 gyms to be available from the start and beatable in any order (with level scaling in place to make each gym leader's Pokemon scale accordingly with the order in which you choose to face them); then after beating them, you can go and kill Ganon, become Pokemon League champion whenever you choose.

You're buying an eShop code. You put the discount in on the website and can buy a £100 eShop code for £90 at checkout; you then redeem the eShop code on the Switch like you would any other.