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Nintendo Download: 5th October (Europe)

Another week, another impressive European Nintendo download line-up to separate us all from our cash. The Switch eShop has a broad range of strong arrivals, while the 3DS has three retail releases vying for attention. The Wii U doesn’t miss out, either, and there’s also a lot of DLC and discounts to get through – let’s get on with it, shall we?

Switch eShop

Stardew Valley (Chucklefish LTD, €13.99 / £10.99) – Since it was announced earlier this year this has been top of plenty of wishlists. A hugely popular game across PC and consoles, this will be the first iteration that’ll also be playable on the go. It adds its own modern spin to Harvest Moon-style ideas such as tending to your land and forming relationships with suitors. We’ll bring you a review as soon as possible.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Asteroid Base, €14.99 / £11.99) – A hit on other systems, this is a colourful title in which up to four players frantically rush around a spaceship to control various weapons and systems in order to hold off enemy attacks. Perhaps best in co-op, you can also play solo with AI companions helping you out; we enjoyed it a lot in our Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime review.

Axiom Verge (Thomas Happ Games, €17.99 / £14.99) – An innovative Metroidvania that in the eyes of some (including our reviewer) is a modern classic. On the surface it looks traditional, but an innovative approach to glitches and their impact on the world helps to make it a distinctive experience. We love this game, and that didn’t change in our Axiom Version Switch review.

Oxenfree (Night School, €19.99 / £15.99) Originally released on PS4, Xbox One and Steam in 2016, Oxenfree casts the player as Alex, who travels with her stepbrother Jonas to an abandoned military island packed with hidden secrets. The game offers a multiple-choice conversation system that alters the story as you play, building your in-game relationships with every reply, statement and question. There’s also a radio which allows you manipulate the game world and make contact with the strange and mysterious forces that have been dormant on the island for the past 70 years. Critically acclaimed when originally released, we’ll check it out on Switch. Available from 6th October.

Earth Atlantis (Headup Games, €14.99 / £13.49) – Looking a lot like the classic arcade blaster In The Hunt, Earth Atlantis places you in a world where the majority of the planet’s surface is covered in wet stuff. There are plenty of enemies to take down as you embark upon a ‘monster-hunting’ approach to the side-scrolling shooter genre, all with a distinctive art style. We’ll had a review with you soon, in the meantime here’s an interview with the director and lead designer.

Tumblestone (The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, €12.99 / £11.99) – The name may sound familiar, as this was a ‘Nindie’ title given a big push by Nintendo on the Wii U eShop last year. It’s a game that reminds us that puzzle titles can be engrossing and a lot of fun, with plenty of content, modes and options to play alone or with buddies. We’ll take another look on Switch, but in the meantime you can check out the strong recommendation in our Tumblestone Wii U review.

Ninja Shodown (Rising Star Games, €12.99 / £9.99) – Another potential winner to add to the stack of entertaining local multiplayer games on the Switch. This one is all about chaotic arena brawls (either co-operative play or as opponents) and looks like it could be fun. We’ll see whether it truly has the way of the ninja in a review.

Volgarr the Viking (Crazy Viking, €9.99 / £8.99) – Also coming to Wii U at some point this has now made its way to the Switch. It pitches itself as a tough action platformer in which you’ll die a lot. It looks a tad rough visually, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a lot of fun; we’ll try it out for review.

Metal Slug X (HAMSTER, €6.99 / £6.29) – We’ve already had three ACA Metal Slug titles on the store to date, though X is considered to be pretty darn good – it’s a rearranged version of Metal Slug 2 (fixing that game’s drastic slowdown) and we loved it in our Wii Virtual Console review.

Tower of Babel (EnjoyUp Games, €9.99 / £8.99) – This looks somewhat quirky in footage, as a knight auto-runs up and down sort-of 3D towers, with your goal being to dodge obstacles and grab collectibles through jumping, ducking and adjusting your dash speed. Unfortunately we were left rather unimpressed in our Tower of Babel review.

Switch eShop Demos

Just Dance 2018 (Ubisoft, free)

Spelunker Party! (Square Enix, free) – Available from 7th October.

Switch DLC

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Pixel Pack (Ubisoft, €2.99 / £2.49) – Included in season pass.

Infinite Minigolf – Tortuga (Zen Studios, free)

3DS Retail Downloads

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions (Nintendo, €39.99 / £34.99) – One of the most beloved entries in the RPG series gets a revamp on the 3DS, with updated visuals and a new strategy-light spin-off campaign. Though the all-new content is a tad uninspired, the main game is still an absolute delight to play – we get into why in our Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions review. Available from 6th October.

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy (Level-5, €39.99 / £34.99) – After spin-offs and experiments the Layton series goes mostly back to its roots in this new release, with Katrielle and chums solving a lot of puzzles while solving a dozen cases. It’s a welcome return to form for the IP, as we explain in our review. Available from 6th October.

Culdcept Revolt (NIS America, $39.99) – A series with a very sporadic history in the West, this blends fantasy, card battles and board game play for what could certainly be an interesting release. We’re finalising a review to go live later this week.

3DS eShop

Symphony of Eternity (KEMCO, €7.99 / £7.19) – KEMCO is bucking the trend, changing up its modus operandi to bring us something completely different… nah, just kidding, it’s a retro-styled RPG. There’s a legendary weapon and an epic quest, and that – ladies and gentleman – is another KEMCO RPG 3DS eShop release. It might be good though, to be fair.

3DS DLC

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Costume bundle pack (Level-5, €7.99 / £7.19)

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Daddy’s girl (Level-5, €1.99 / £1.79)

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Luke lookalike (Level-5, €1.99 / £1.79)

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Emmy impersonation (Level-5, €1.99 / £1.79)

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Anton-ish attire (Level-5, €1.99 / £1.79)

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Aurora again (Level-5, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Free Bats’ Free Time (NIS America, €3.99 / £3.59)

Culdcept Revolt – Free Avatar Pack (NIS America, free)

Culdcept Revolt – Free Book Cover Pack (NIS America, free)

Culdcept Revolt – Vampire Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Necromancer Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Gothic Lolita Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Green Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Red Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Blue Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Yellow Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Alien Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Angel Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Detective Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Black Knight Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Hero Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Battle Boy Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Shrine Maiden Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Red Riding Hood Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Magical Girl Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Puppet Doll Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Tin Man Set (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Archer Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Warrior Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Musician Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Horror Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Mascot Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Glasses Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Rose Pack (NIS America, €0.99 / £0.89)

Culdcept Revolt – Animal Pack (NIS America, €0.99 / £0.89)

Culdcept Revolt – Steel Pack (NIS America, €0.99 / £0.89)

Culdcept Revolt – Scale Pack (NIS America, €0.99 / £0.89)

Culdcept Revolt – Dragon Pack (NIS America, €1.99 / £1.79)

Culdcept Revolt – Avatar Pack (NIS America, €19.99 / £17.99)

Culdcept Revolt – Book Cover Pack (NIS America, €14.99 / £13.49)

Culdcept Revolt – Dice Pack (NIS America, €9.99 / £8.99)

3DS eShop Temporary Discounts

BOXBOY! (Nintendo, €3.74 / £3.36 until 26th October, normally €4.99 / £4.49)

BOXBOXBOY! (Nintendo, €3.74 / £3.36 until 26th October, normally €4.99 / £4.49)

BYE-BYE BOXBOY! (Nintendo, €3.74 / £3.36 until 26th October, normally €4.99 / £4.49)

Zombie Panic in Wonderland DX (Akaoni Studio, €6.30 / £5.67 until 2nd November, normally €7.00 / £6.30)

AeternoBlade (Corecell, €7.49 / £6.75 until 19th October, normally €14.99 / £13.50)

Epic Word Search Collection (Lightwood Games, €5.99 / £4.49 until 19th October, normally €7.99 / £5.99)

Epic Word Search Collection 2 (Lightwood Games, €5.99 / £4.49 until 19th October, normally €7.99 / £5.99)

10-in-1: Arcade Collection (Gamelion, €0.99 / £0.89 until 19th October, normally €1.99 / £1.79)

Crazy Kangaroo (Gamelion, €0.99 / £0.94 until 19th October, normally €1.99 / £1.89)

Hazumi (Gamelion, €1.34 / £0.99 until 19th October, normally €2.69 / £1.99)

League of Heroes (Gamelion, €1.99 / £1.79 until 19th October, normally €3.99 / £3.59)

Monster Shooter (Gamelion, €2.00 / £1.60 until 19th October, normally €4.00 / £3.20)

Pick-A-Gem (Gamelion, €1.49 / £1.39 until 19th October, normally €2.99 / £2.79)

PIX3D (Gamelion, €1.99 / £1.79 until 19th October, normally €3.99 / £3.59)

Rage of the Gladiator (Gamelion, €3.49 / £3.14 until 19th October, normally €6.99 / £6.29)

SpeedX 3D (Gamelion, €1.49 / £1.34 until 19th October, normally €2.99 / £2.69)

SpeedX 3D Hyper Edition (Gamelion, €0.99 / £0.89 until 19th October, normally €1.99 / £1.79)

Collide-a-Ball (Starsign, €0.99 / £0.99 until 19th October, normally €1.99 / £1.99)

Ping Pong Trick Shot (Starsign, €0.99 / £0.99 until 19th October, normally €1.99 / £1.99)

Crollors Game Pack (Nvriezen, €1.26 / £1.18 until 2nd November, normally €1.49 / £1.39)

My Nintendo 3DS HOME Theme

BOXBOY! 2.5th Year Anniversary (Nintendo, 20 Gold Points)

Wii U eShop

Volgarr the Viking (Crazy Viking, €9.99 / £8.99) – Same game, different console.

Wii U Virtual Console

Double Dungeons (EXTREME, €5.99 / £5.39) – The run of TG-16 games continues with this ambitious (for its time) attempt and 3D dungeon crawling. Unfortunately we were left distinctly unimpressed in our Wii Virtual Console Double Dungeons review.

Vigilante (IREM, €5.99 / £5.39) – Another TurboGrafx-16 game for your consideration, this time around it’s a side-scrolling beat ’em up. You can go full retro and check out our 2007 review, if you like.

Wii U eShop Temporary Discounts

3Souls (Red Column, €0.90 / £0.80 until 5th November, normally €3.60 / £3.20)

Ascent of Kings (Nostatic Software, €1.49 / £1.11 until 12th October, normally €1.99 / £1.49)

Wicked Monsters Blast: HD PLUS (Corecell, €3.99 / £3.59 until 19th October, normally €7.99 / £7.19)

Wii U Demo

Just Dance 2018 (Ubisoft, free)

Lots of options this week – let us know what you’ll be downloading in the poll and comments below.

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Pokémon Ultra Sun And Moon Gets New Trailer And A Fresh Beast

Nintendo has released a new batch of info on the upcoming 3DS title Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, along with a brand-new trailer.

As well as releasing this new footage, the story behind the game is fleshed out, too:

In Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, Ultra Wormholes were strange pockets of space that mysteriously appeared throughout the Alola region and were shrouded in mystery. In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, these Ultra Wormholes return and players can ride on the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala to travel through them to reach the various worlds that lie beyond. Players can visit many different worlds via these Ultra Wormholes—including Ultra Megalopolis! The world of Ultra Megalopolis is a place that has had its light stolen by Necrozma. Within this world, a mysterious tower-like building shines with brilliant light but whatever waits at the top of this structure is currently unknown.

In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon players will meet the Ultra Recon Squad, a strange group that have come from a world that lives beyond an Ultra Wormhole. Players will see the story told from different perspective in each version of the game, with Dulse and Zossie playing a central role in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Soliera and Phyco taking that role in Pokémon Ultra Moon. The Ultra Recon Squad bring with them a new Ultra Beast—UB Adhesive.

We’ve also got some details on this strange new beast, alongside UB Burst and UB Assembly:

UB Adhesive 
Type: Poison

This Ultra Beast’s head is filled with venom and it shoots this venom out from the poisonous needle on the top of its head. It is said to be intelligent enough to understand human speech and displays many emotions.

In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, players will be able to meet other new Ultra Beasts in addition to UB Adhesive. In Pokémon Ultra Sun, players will able to meet UB Burst, while in Pokémon Ultra Moon, it will be UB Assembly.

UB Burst
Type: Fire/Ghost

UB Burst has a head made up of a collection of curious sparks, which it can remove and make explode. It tricks targets into letting their guard down with its funny behaviour then, when its opponent is close, it surprises them by blowing up its head without warning. 

UB Assembly

Type: Rock/Steel
This Ultra Beast is a collection of many life-forms. While it appears to be made up of stones stacked atop one another, each “stone” is in fact a separate life-form. When confronting opponents, the eyes on each of its stones begin to glow bright red.

What do you make of this Pocket Monster-themed info-burst, and the new trailer? Let us know with a comment.

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Nintendo Download: 5th October (North America)

It’s Nintendo Download Update time, ladies and gentleman, and it’s another cracker. This week brings an impressive range of new releases on Switch, both at retail and as download-only titles. The 3DS also weighs in, with two notable retail releases on the veteran handheld; there’s a lot to get through, so let’s get to the details.

Switch Retail Download

Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle (NIS America, $29.99USD) – A spin-off of the popular Touhou Project series, Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is described as a 3D shooter with fighting elements, which tasks you with taking down opponents 1 vs 1 using projectile and melee attacks. Available from 10th October.

Tiny Barbarian DX (Nicalis, $29.99USD) – An action platformer that pays homage to the retro era, it supports local co-op and also has “four lengthy episodes”. We suspect most will aim to get the physical edition of this, however, which will include various goodies in the first run. Available from 10th October.

Switch eShop

Stardew Valley (Chucklefish LTD, $14.99USD) – Since it was announced earlier this year this has been top of plenty of wishlists. A hugely popular game across PC and consoles, this will be the first iteration that’ll also be playable on the go. It adds its own modern spin to Harvest Moon-style ideas such as tending to your land and forming relationships with suitors. We’ll bring you a review as soon as possible.

Axiom Verge (Thomas Happ Games, $19.99USD) – An innovative Metroidvania that in the eyes of some (including our reviewer) is a modern classic. On the surface it looks traditional, but an innovative approach to glitches and their impact on the world helps to make it a distinctive experience. We love this game, and that didn’t change in our Axiom Version Switch review.

Oxenfree (Night School, $19.99USD) Originally released on PS4, Xbox One and Steam in 2016, Oxenfree casts the player as Alex, who travels with her stepbrother Jonas to an abandoned military island packed with hidden secrets. The game offers a multiple-choice conversation system that alters the story as you play, building your in-game relationships with every reply, statement and question. There’s also a radio which allows you manipulate the game world and make contact with the strange and mysterious forces that have been dormant on the island for the past 70 years. Critically acclaimed when originally released, we’ll check it out on Switch. Available from 6th October.

Earth Atlantis (Headup Games, $14.99USD) – Looking a lot like the classic arcade blaster In The Hunt, Earth Atlantis places you in a world where the majority of the planet’s surface is covered in wet stuff. There are plenty of enemies to take down as you embark upon a ‘monster-hunting’ approach to the side-scrolling shooter genre, all with a distinctive art style. We’ll had a review with you soon, in the meantime here’s an interview with the director and lead designer.

Tumblestone (The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, $14.99USD) – The name may sound familiar, as this was a ‘Nindie’ title given a big push by Nintendo on the Wii U eShop last year. It’s a game that reminds us that puzzle titles can be engrossing and a lot of fun, with plenty of content, modes and options to play alone or with buddies. We’ll take another look on Switch, but in the meantime you can check out the strong recommendation in our Tumblestone Wii U review.

Ninja Shodown (Rising Star Games, $14.95USD) – Another potential winner to add to the stack of entertaining local multiplayer games on the Switch. This one is all about chaotic arena brawls (either co-operative play or as opponents) and looks like it could be fun. We’ll see whether it truly has the way of the ninja in a review.

Volgarr the Viking (Crazy Viking, $9.99) – Also coming to Wii U at some point this has now made its way to the Switch. It pitches itself as a tough action platformer in which you’ll die a lot. It looks a tad rough visually, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a lot of fun; we’ll try it out for review.

Metal Slug X (HAMSTER, $7.99USD) – We’ve already had three ACA Metal Slug titles on the store to date, though X is considered to be pretty darn good – it’s a rearranged version of Metal Slug 2 (fixing that game’s drastic slowdown) and we loved it in our Wii Virtual Console review.

3DS Retail Downloads

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions (Nintendo, $39.99USD) – One of the most beloved entries in the RPG series gets a revamp on the 3DS, with updated visuals and a new strategy-light spin-off campaign. Though the all-new content is a tad uninspired, the main game is still an absolute delight to play – we get into why in our Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions review. Available from 6th October.

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy (Level-5, $39.99USD) – After spin-offs and experiments the Layton series goes mostly back to its roots in this new release, with Katrielle and chums solving a lot of puzzles while solving a dozen cases. It’s a welcome return to form for the IP, as we explain in our review. Available from 6th October.

3DS eShop

Symphony of Eternity (KEMCO, $7.99USD) – KEMCO is bucking the trend, changing up its modus operandi to bring us something completely different… nah, just kidding, it’s a retro-styled RPG. There’s a legendary weapon and an epic quest, and that – ladies and gentleman – is another KEMCO RPG 3DS eShop release. It might be good though, to be fair.

3DS HOME Theme

BOXBOY! 2.5th Year Anniversary

As always Nintendo of America wants you to browse the eShop and check out the official sales and deals website for discount details.

That’s the Nintendo Download line-up this week – let us know what you’ll be downloading in the poll and comments below.

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Ubisoft to repurchase 4M shares as it continues fight against Vivendi

Ubisoft plans to buy back up to 4 million shares to fend off a hostile takeover from French media conglomerate Vivendi. 

In a brief press release, the Assassin’s Creed creator explained it’s granted a mandate to an unnamed investment services provider, allowing it to repurchase shares on Ubisoft’s behalf. 

All repurchased shares will then be cancelled by Ubisoft, preventing them from being reissued on the market and potentially purchased by Vivendi. 

It’s another small victory for the studio, which is attempting to secure its independence and push back against Vivendi’s repeated advances. 

Vivendi currently holds a 26 percent stake in Ubisoft, and French law would require the firm to make a mandatory takeover bid once it owns more than 30 percent. 

The threat of a hostile takeover has been looming over Ubisoft for some time now, with Vivendi first buying into the company back in 2015. 

Since then, Ubisoft has come out on the offensive, and has reiterated its desire to remain autonomous time and time again.

It’s a tactic that seems to be working, with Vivendi CEO Stephane Roussel recently revealing the company isn’t sure whether to table a takeover bid or simply sell off its stock and move on. 

The latter would surely be welcomed by Ubisoft’s founding family, the Guillemots, who recently raised their own stake in the company. 

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Inside the development of Conan Exiles: The Frozen North

A few months ago, Gamasutra brought Conan Exiles creative director Joel Bylos onto our Twitch channel to discuss Funcom’s hit online survival game. Recently, Gamasutra’s Bryant Francis and Kris Graft had the pleasure of speaking with Bylos again about the game’s launch on Xbox One’s preview program, as well as the design of the game’s  new Frozen North expansion and what new features can be expected from it.

You can watch the stream embedded above, or click here to see it. And for more developer insights, editor roundtables and gameplay commentary, be sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel.

STREAM PARTICIPANTS:

Joel Bylos, creative director of Conan Exiles

Bryant Francis, contributing editor at Gamasutra

Kris Graft, editor-in-chief at Gamasutra

Bryant Francis: The climbing mechanic and world traversal, can you talk about how it’s implemented right now?

Joel Bylos: We don’t have the leeway to give a paraglider, or anything like they have in Zelda, but basically any surface in the world is climbable, unless we deem it not to be, which we’ve done in some cases like dungeons, just to prevent people from exploiting certain puzzle mechanics. Essentially you can walk up to anything in the game, if you hold the jump button you’ll attach to it, you can do it right from the start if you like, and you’ll be pushed into a third-person camera view just to make that work, but basically you can jump up and attach to any of the rocks or cliff faces, and you climb then. Your stamina bar determines the amount of climbing time that you get, and so forth.

We had to refigure a large number of the rocks in the world to make their collision more precise, because otherwise the player would be floating in the air while climbing. And there was areas the players could reach now that would be outside of their theoretical reach before. Pretty much in this game you could reach almost anywhere by building there, we kind of knew what when we were making it, so we did take the time to make sure they looked okay when you got up to them, but now we had to make sure that the actual attach surfaces were fairly close to perfect when you actually got on them.

“We had to refigure a large number of the rocks in the world to make their collision more precise, because otherwise the player would be floating in the air while climbing. “

We had to make sure locations worked well with climbing. We had to make sure locations didn’t break with climbing, like in dungeons.  We knew that some of our puzzles would break so we made some of the dungeon walls unclimbable. We tried to make that realistic by making them slick with water, making them difficult to climb.

A problem we had been trying to solve in the game was that people had been building these bases in places that were basically unreachable and then destroying their staircases each night when they logged off. In PvP, they would build a staircase up to their base […] on top of a very high rock, then they would delete the staircase so players could never get to their base to raid them. It was clever, but it amounted to an unraidable base game, so we decided to add climbing as a way of at least reaching those bases.

Kris Graft: It’s one thing to do this in a game like Zelda, that’s single-player, you can kind of take into account what players might do. But in a MMO game like this, you could be thrown some curveballs.

Joel Bylos: Yeah. But it’s a relatively robust system, it’s one of the most polished systems we’ve launched. It could use some animation polish but it actually works very well, players have not been finding massive exploits or anything like that. It also solved a problem with world traversal with people, who were up on high cliffs, getting down quickly. It’s never that fun if you have to find a way down, it’s much more fun to jump off a cliff. So we have this whole mechanic where you do what we call the ‘heroic plunge,’ where you jump off a cliff and spin and grab the wall on the way down, and you’ll just slide with both your hands.

Kris Graft: That’s how I jump off of cliffs as well.

Joel Bylos: (laughs)

Kris Graft: The other side of the climbing mechanic in Breath of the Wild is the paraglider. Did you consider putting that in, or could something like that be implemented in the future?

Joel Bylos: We’ve discussed things like that. We can’t obviously do paraglider. I mean we could but it’d be kind of lame, it doesn’t really fit the setting that well. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a movie called Yor: Hunter from the Future? It was like an 80s cheesy barbarian movie. In that movie he captures a giant flying lizard creature and uses it as a paraglider, it’s kind of amazing.

[embedded content]
The unforgettable film Yor: Hunter From the Future

So we talk about things like that we talked about being able to skin certain creatures and maybe use them to do something like that. But we’ll see, we haven’t reached that point yet.

Kris Graft: Yeah. You previously said everything has to be ‘super violent,’ I think like skinning a creature, or capturing a creature and then forcing it to be your paraglider…I think that would fit in the Conan world, that’s just my personal opinion though.

Kris Graft: You hear a lot of people say that one of the major advantages of developing on console is that you just have one or two kinds of platforms to get it running on, and if it runs great one, it’s going to run great on all of them, because they’re all the same. And you have definitely found that to be true, right? (sarcasm)

“I was naive enough to actually think that. If it runs on one Xbox One S, it’ll run on all Xbox One S’s, if it’ll run on one Xbox One, it’ll run on all Xbox Ones.”

Joel Bylos: (laughs, sarcastically) Yes, that is definitely our experience. I was naive enough to actually think that. If it runs on one Xbox One S, it’ll run on all Xbox One S’s, if it’ll run on one Xbox One, it’ll run on all Xbox Ones. What we found was, for some reason it might be crashing for someone’s, and it could be not crashing on someone else’s, while they could be running the exact same console. They could have no external hard drives with basically the same setup as you.

So yeah we found that it’s been interesting with the console. I honestly believed that it would run the same for everybody. On the day of launch people were telling me it was crashing constantly. And I was running it at home, and I was crashing almost never, my minimum time-to-fail was like five or six hours. People were telling me they were crashing every minute, every ten minutes. From a development point of view that can be slightly frustrating, because tracking down those errors is also quite hard.

Kris Graft: How successful have you been at tracking down those errors?  Have you been able to do that efficiently?

“When you’re testing for stability you have a MTF, a Minimum Time to Failure, which is basically the average amount of time any of them playing the game before they crashed.”

Joel Bylos: Yeah I think so. We’ve been patching every week, because there can be multiple causes of any crash, right? Patching everything as we go.  Our minimum time to failure on every version, which is how our testing unit gives us feedback.

When you’re testing for stability you have a MTF, a minimum time to failure, which is basically the average amount of time any of them playing the game before they crashed, and that has increased from two hours to seven-and-a-half. Which is obviously a huge stability improvement. Which doesn’t mean on the average that people crash every seven-and-a-half hours, it just means that that’s the minimum before they force the game to crash.

Kris Graft: What reasons have you found that has caused a crash or a bug that you didn’t expect? Like, somebody had Daytona USA installed, and that was the reason that people were experiencing crashes.

Joel Bylos: (laughs) I don’t think we’ve found particularly other games to be the source. We did find people running external hard drives, was one cause, could have been one of the causes. Here’s some juicy stuff.  Before launch, in Europe we had the rating to show full nudity. Dicks on consoles, essentially. The way we worked with Microsoft to figure it out was to have DLC that enabled nudity in Europe, so that people who could download that DLC, in Europe only, to get the nudity on their characters. 

We had set this all up, we had tested this version.  The version we were going to launch with we had tested for two weeks, it was very stable, it wasn’t crashing much, the coders had done a lot of things to it. And we had other versions that were waiting to be basically patched out later, because those were the versions that we’d been testing. And those versions [hadn’t] undergone thourough testing, at least not nearly as thourough testing as normal.

“Microsoft found that there were people getting around and getting the nudity DLC in places that they shouldn’t, and we had to quickly release a version that was newer, and hadn’t been tested well, and we had launch problems.”

So we had been working on them. And then about two days before the launch, we launched on a Wednesday and Microsoft called us on a Monday night, and basically they found a problem in their store, where people in the US were able to get around the region lock and get the DLC for nudity, because the trial had accidentally launched early. People were downloading the game in trial mode well before it was actually launched. A few weird things going on there. So basically people were figuring out a way around [the region lock], so we had to disable the nudity in Europe or else we’d get fined by the ESRB.

So basically we had to disable that version of the trial, that a bunch of European people had downloaded, that had nudity DLC as well. So we had to disable that, and release a build on launch day that had not been tested in the way that the other builds had been.  So on the Tuesday night I had played for six hours with pretty much zero crashing and zero problems. And then on Wednesday we had to quickly change our version.

And so that’s shenanigans, but that’s what happens sometimes. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just that Microsoft found that there were people getting around and getting the nudity DLC in places that they shouldn’t, and we had to quickly release a version that was newer, and hadn’t been tested well, and we had launch problems.

“Some people have twenty thousand hours in the game, and some people have a hundred, but they still have an opinion about this stuff, right?”

Joel Bylos: Today I did a temperature test with people. On Fridays we have a meeting with the entire team, where we just talk about what everyone’s been working on, so people all in the loop. Often what I do in those meetings is we thumbs-up/thumbs-down/neutral on a feature, just to see how people feel about things.

And so I did a temperature test today on the dev team, for several of the features that are left to complete for the game.  So it was quite interesting. I was like ‘how do you feel about this feature,’ is it thumbs-up, thumbs-down, neutral, and there’s also, if you’could only pick one of these features on the list, which one would you do? And so, very diverse and interesting results based on the type of player that our devs are. And many of them are very different, there are people who play a game solely in PvE, they like to be on a server with other players, but they don’t like to do PvP.  And they’re not interested in interaction on that level of continually struggling against other people.

There are people who literally are just giant jerks, who go around killing as many people as they can find on a server, and destroying people’s bases, and teabagging them. So it’s interesting to see what people feel about things and what they think is important for the game. And it’s super interesting because some [of our devs] have 20,000 hours in the game, and some people have a hundred, because it’s a product assistant, who gets coffee for the project manager. He might have only played the game for a little bit, he might have only been working a phone job for a few days. But he still has an opinion about this stuff, right?

Kris Graft: That was going to be my next question, about cutting features, about how you get to that decision, about which of your darlings you’re going to kill. Is it just super democratic, like that?

“I try not to do democracy in game development. Design by committee can work, but it’s difficult.”

Joel Bylos: No no no, I try not to do democracy in game development. Design by committee, it can work, but it’s difficult. I think it’s more like design by merit, so people come with really cool ideas and implement them, and then you’re like ‘oh yeah, that was an amazing idea. Great work.’

We don’t democratize it, what we do is, I don’t know if you saw that presentation where they were talking about their feature scorecards? We have a similar system, where basically we say, does this feature market the game? Will it sell copies in the market? Will people buy a game if they see a video of this? That sounds super cynical, but it’s one of many factors, these are all points on our scorecard. So as a marketing feature, is this feature going to cause the current community playing the game to be mad, or happy? Does it add value to that community or does it piss them off?

“We have a system where basically we say, does this feature market the game? Will people buy a game if they see a video of this? As a marketing feature, is this feature going to cause the current community playing the game to be mad, or happy?”

And does the dev team want to work on this feature? Are they excited about this feature? Does this feature meet other development goals by developing it? An example of that is, we have the slavery system with the thralls that you knock out and drag back to your base. That gives us 90 percent of the work for a pet system in the game, having pets that you bring back to your base. That would be an example of a feature that helps development of another feature.

So you have these questions, you give them a point scale, we rate them. I fill out those, I talk to the community manager to get the temperature of the community about each feature, I talk to the marketing team to see what they think, I talk to the developers and get their temperature on things. I make judgment calls on a couple of things like: is this a feature we can do well?

For example, climbing was a feature that I believed we could do well, and we did fairly well with it and I think it meets the standards for our game.  And then there’s stuff like actual estimates, how much time will it take to implement this feature? And then all of those things we put together in a point score, and we look and say, ‘Look, this feature is a minus-six, it’s probably not a good feature to add to the game. This feature is a plus-seven, it’s a no-brainer, we should have it.’

Kris Graft: So it’s the exact same questions that you ask at different points in development, to make these decisions about features?

Joel Bylos: The discussions about which actual features to add to the game, that’s more of a discussion that I have with the executive producer. Once we have a list of features that we think define the vision of the game, that’s when we start asking these questions about them.

For more developer insights, editor roundtables and gameplay commentary, be sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel.

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Review: Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy (3DS)

The Professor Layton series was an endearing part of the DS and 3DS generation, spawning six main-series titles and a spin-off with Ace Attorney. After that point Level-5 called it a day on the puzzle solving gentleman, no doubt concerned about the IP losing its freshness and a general decline in sales. It was a sad moment, though, considering how fond many had become not only of the cast of characters, but the entire premise of the IP.

There have been spin-offs and mobile releases since, but now we have Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy. It arrived on mobile earlier in the year but now finds a home on 3DS, and in various ways it’s a series rebirth; for every minor diversion it takes from the original games there are half a dozen familiar features. Level-5 has indeed shaken up the puzzle a little, but the solution remains very familiar.

The main puzzle solver extraordinaire this time is Katrielle Layton, apparent daughter of the Professor and the new head of her very own Detective Agency. She’s joined by her assistant Ernest – the game is big on names riffing on characteristics – and a talking dog called Sherl with no memory. So yeah, it’s quirky.

The notable formulaic shift is that the story isn’t told through a cohesive linear narrative, but through a number of separate ‘cases’ to solve. You play through these like you would previous series entries, but the change is that you gradually uncover six clues to ‘solve’ each case before you then move on to the next. There are some story hooks that hang together through the whole thing, revolving around our sleuths and a group of millionaires (called Dragons, someone at Level-5 has been watching British TV) that are at the core of most of the cases.

It’s a nice little spin, though unlike the later entries of the main series the diverse nature of tackling the cases doesn’t lead to a globetrotting adventure. It all happens in London, or rather a whimsical tea-and-cucumber-sandwiches version of it, with multiple visits to some areas. That’s not to say you don’t see a variety of settings, but it’s all rooted in a very charming and idealistic take on ‘old England’, where most gentleman and gentlewomen wear hats and sound like the cast of Oliver. 

Beyond the ‘case’ structure, those familiar with previous main series entries will feel right at home with the mechanics. You investigate areas with a magnifying glass, tapping on points of interest to find Hint Coins, clues and puzzles. You chat to the locals – which comprises of a relatively small cast all told – to engage in light-hearted conversation, gain leads and, yes, unlock more puzzles. It’s all rather delightful, and you’ll be pleased to know the Level-5’s writers and localisation teams haven’t lost their touch; it’s a game that raises many smiles through its dialogue and story events.

If anything, the formula is too familiar – the idea of solving ‘cases’ is nice in principle, and you can try and figure each out as you learn more, but the hook is the same as when the Professor solved mysteries. You don’t really piece the clues together, they just appear as you play in typical Layton style – the ‘detective’ angle could have been taken a little further by Level-5, we’d suggest.

That said, this game continues to do what it’s predecessors did, which is marry appealing storytelling and witty writing with a lot of puzzles. It’s always been an enticing combination, and by closely following the lead of its predecessors Layton’s Mystery Journey shares the same strengths. There are a staggering number of puzzles to find, and typically a playthrough of a case can leave some undiscovered, encouraging you to go back and track them down. There are more puzzles even than in the originals, with more promised as regular download extras. 

For the most part they’re accomplished efforts, too, though like all games in the series there are a few duds. The majority are excellent, not only for the clever solutions but in the way they encourage you to think outside the box – sometimes the puzzle will throw up red herrings to make you miss a simple solution, leading to the familiar doubts as you submit your answer. There are maybe a few too many puzzles that can be solved through sheer bloody minded persistence rather than deduction, but overall it’s an enjoyable collection.

Also, and in keeping with the ‘back to Plan A’ approach here, there are fun little minigames and extras that you gradually unlock in your suitcase. From picking out the right meals for restaurant guests, to basic retail management and helping Sherl ‘escape’ the dog pound, they’re nice little diversions. You can also recap on key points of cases, view extra cutscenes to fill in small gaps in the story, change Katrielle’s clothes of even refurbish the office.

So we have lots of puzzles and whimsical storytelling – with a Layton-esque twist at the end. What’s not to like? Well, for one thing, Level-5 took a step back in not bothering to utilise the 3D capability of the top screen. Rather like with another current title – Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions – this just seems like a cost-cutting or lazy measure. Not a dealbreaker, of course, but it’s a shame that a unique selling point of the hardware is being let go late in its lifecycle.

Aside from that there’s little to complain about here, apart from the aforementioned cautious approach from Level-5. It could have taken the detective work further while retaining the IP’s core gameplay, but instead it feels a little tacked on. Because of that, and the more limited scope of the London setting, the story doesn’t quite hit the heights of the finest Professor tales, even in his earliest days exploring a mysterious village. It’s still all jolly nice, however, and the new cast are easy to like; there’s potential for a series rebirth to live beyond this entry.

Conclusion

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy feels rather comforting, the video game equivalent of a warm blanket. For the most part it reverts to the core formula of the Professor Layton games, albeit with a new cast and by dividing the narrative into mostly lighthearted, charming ‘cases’. All it lacks is the confidence to fully embrace its new setting, stopping short of expanding upon some of its ideas.

That said, it still delivers the series’ unique blend of storytelling and lots of puzzles with aplomb. It’ll have fans and newcomers scratching their heads and smiling at the same time; here’s hoping it’s not Layton’s final mystery.

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Share Your Miiverse Memories On The “Everybody’s Message Community”

The clock is ticking on Miiverse, with the service due to close forever on 7th November. Sensing the Miiverse communities sadness, Nintendo has added a special ‘Everybody’s Message Community‘ recently which has the following aim:

Share your memories and thoughts about Miiverse and its users by posting hand-drawn messages. Selected posts from this community may be used to create a giant collage that will be shared at a later date.

So far the community has been inundated with kind doodles and there are more than a few sad Kirbys as you scroll through all the user contributions.

It’s a nice send-off for the Miiverse service, we think. Why not submit your own hand-drawn message? Hopefully it will be included in the giant collage which memorialises this quirky social network, which was obviously too good for this twisted, unforgiving world.

[via eurogamer.net, miiverse.nintendo.net]

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Big Ant Studios Would Love To Bring Ashes Cricket To Switch

Big Ant CEO Ross Symons is keen to bring the studio’s new Ashes Cricket game to the Switch, but it seems like Nintendo isn’t returning his calls.

Ashes Cricket has been confirmed for PS4, Xbox One and PC, but Symons feels like it would also be a perfect fit for Switch:

I would love to do the Switch; the Switch is made for this. There’s nothing like Cricket and using something like the Switch where you have the motion controllers – it just makes sense.

However, he admits that while Big Ant has approached Nintendo about bringing the game to the system, it hasn’t had the reaction it perhaps expected: 

Unfortunately I did reach out to Nintendo but it didn’t get much of a response. We’ve made games for Nintendo systems in the past, but I really hope we can support the Switch because it really does make a lot of sense, especially with motion controllers and cricket going together. A little bit of that is up to Nintendo – we need to get someone from Nintendo who wants a cricket game on their system and then we’re up for it.

Would you like to see Ashes Cricket on your Switch? Do you fancy swinging those Joy-Con around for batting and bowling? Are you keen to get all “silly midwicket” with your friends and relatives? Leave a comment to let us know.

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Cappy ‘Captures’ a Trailer for Promotional Super Mario Odyssey Tour

Super Mario Odyssey is getting closer, all set for a 27th October release. As is its way Nintendo of America is planning to celebrate with a promotional tour – it makes sense, some people play the game, you potentially get local news showing up, and you can share photos of gamers smiling while playing the game. Marketing 101.

In any case, the tour will take in five stops over the next few weeks, all in the US. Details are below.

Los Angeles Kingdom Universal CityWalk

100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608

Located at 5 Towers at Universal CityWalk.

 Oct. 10

3:30-6 p.m.
Dallas Kingdom

State Fair of Texas
3921 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75210

Located in Chevy Park Plaza (enter at gate 11), across from the Chevy Ride & Drive.

 Oct. 18

10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Chicago Kingdom Navy Pier

600 E. Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Located in Polk Bros Park, Navy Pier’s front gateway, between Illinois and Grand avenues.

 Oct. 21

12-6 p.m.
Philadelphia Kingdom Philadelphia Museum of Art

2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130

Located below the “Rocky Steps” of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 Oct. 24

12-6 p.m.
New York Kingdom Rockefeller Center

10 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10020

 Oct. 26

8-10 p.m.

In all cases there’ll be photo opportunities with a Mario mascot and a chance to try the game. The New York stop will be a bit different, tying in with a midnight launch at the Nintendo NY store; “the first 200 people in line will gain access to the event and be the first to purchase the game at midnight.” Weary old perspective aside, we can imagine this trailer will be pretty cool for young kids to see.

Will you be heading to any of these stops?

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Hardware Review: Retro-Bit’s SNES And Mega Drive Pads Will Relieve Your Battered Originals

Retro-Bit’s no stranger to creating serviceable controllers for old-school systems – we covered its excellent NES pads not so long ago – but the company is moving up a generation with its next products, aiming for SNES and Mega Drive / Genesis owners.

The new “Dual Link” pads are, as the name suggests, able to interface not only with the original hardware, but also with PCs, Macs and other devices which accept USB controllers – which makes them the ideal purchase for players who want control options across more than one platform.

Available in Street Fighter and Mega Man flavours, the pads themselves are a close match to the original designs. The SNES variant feels just like the real thing, although the plastic is noticeably cheaper and has a slightly different texture. The buttons are a little more spongy, but not by much – and after a few hours of play we had no complaints.

The Mega Drive pad is modelled not on the original three-button controller which shipped with the console at launch, but the fancy six-button variant released alongside Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition. It’s arguably one of the best controllers ever made, with a lovely rolling D-pad and all six buttons on the face of the pad itself, making it absolutely perfect for Street Fighter matches. It even comes with the “Mode” button on the top edge, which was included on the original controller to avoid compatibility issues with certain titles. Again, the quality is very, very close to the real deal.

While the Dual Link functionality means you have to put up with two plugs on the end of the lead instead of just one (and, believe us, it looks awful messy when plugged in), it’s more than worth it; being able to use the pad on other systems is a real boon – the Mega Drive controller in particular is now our go-to choice when it comes to playing Capcom’s amazing catalogue of arcade one-on-one fighters via MAME.

These pads certainly represent a solid purchase, especially if you’re keen on keeping your retro systems alive but can’t find decent quality versions of the original pads. We have to admit that our SNES and Mega Drive originals have seen better days, and the fact that these Retro-Bit offerings double as fine USB pads is a bonus. The Street Fighter and Mega Man designs are perhaps more of an acquired taste, but that’s all down to personal preference. If you need some new pads, then these are worth a look.