Gun Gun Pixies, a third-person ‘shooter’ involving tiny pixie girls running around avoiding (and ogling) full-sized human women in various states of undress, is coming to Switch ‘soon’.
First released for the PS Vita, it seems that you take control of two diminutive ‘pixie’ girls from outer space who travel to earth in order to infiltrate a college dormitory (ladies only, of course) to ‘study’ human behaviour. These ‘studies’ will help them work through certain ‘social issues’ on their home planet.
It seems that their mission entails an awful lot of looking at half-dressed girls in various states of repose, using the third-person shooting mechanics to sneak and skulk about the dormitory undetected while ‘sniping’ the girls and interacting with them in various ways.
There are coins to collect, with unlocks including new weapons, lingerie and costumes. Perhaps more interesting is the Day One Edition detailed below:
If we didn’t have you at “tiny girls from outer space infiltrate a women’s dormitory”, the Day One Edition of Gun Gun Pixies comes in a special Nintendo Switch collector’s box that includes the game and a high quality artbook! Countless concept drawings, gorgeous key artworks, all characters in alternative outfits and more make this goodie an indulgence for every manga/anime lover.
Wholesome anthropological stuff, then. After checking out some videos of the PS Vita version, we’re not convinced that this is the saucy Chibi-Robo we might have hoped – the critical reception seems to be ‘mixed’ to say the least, with the shooter mechanics in particular coming in for criticism. We doubt that was an area of development focus for makers Compile Heart, though. Still, different strokes!
Will this Day One Edition be a Day One purchase for you? Think that there’s more to this than meets the eye? Let us know if we’ve got this one all wrong in the comments.
Given the sheer volume of cash involved in games development these days you’d assume that a company the size of Activision Blizzard would be capable of conducting its business in a sensible manner, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, given recent events.
We reported a short time ago that, despite posting record numbers, the company had decided to cull 8% of its workforce. The news predictably went down as well as chronic flatulence in a crowded space, but the absolute cherry on top of the cake has been delivered in the firm’s annual Form 10-K report, which was published on 28th February and runs for a sleep-inducing 306 pages.
PC Games Insider has been picking through the mammoth doc and has found the following segment, which you’ll probably need to read at least twice to fully comprehend:
While we believe this restructuring plan will enable us to provide better opportunities for talent, and greater expertise and scale on behalf of our business units, our ability to achieve the desired and anticipated benefits from the restructuring plan within our desired and expected timeframe is subject to many estimates and assumptions, and the actual savings and timing for those savings may vary materially based on factors such as local labour regulations, negotiations with third parties, and operational requirements. These estimates and assumptions are also subject to significant economic, competitive and other uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control.
Further, there can be no assurance that our business will be more efficient or effective than prior to implementation of the plan, or that additional restructuring plans will not be required or implemented in the future. The implementation of this restructuring plan may also be costly and disruptive to our business or have other negative consequences, such as attrition beyond our planned reduction in workforce or negative impacts on employee morale and productivity, or on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees. Any of these consequences could negatively impact our business.
To cut a long story short, Activision Blizzard let 800 people go during a bumper year to save money, but this run of redundancies might still lose the company cash. It is also putting aside $150 million in order to compensate those impacted by the layoffs.
While running a business naturally means looking to the future to ensure your operation is as lean and agile as possible, the fact that Activision Blizzard is prepared to admit that it may have caused lasting harm to its business by making so many people redundant almost beggars belief.
The above trailer for the previously announced Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince has has given us a first look at the upcoming sequel to the action puzzle-platform series.
Selius, the prince from the title, is missing and it’s up to the old heroes from the Astral Academy (Zoya, Amadeus and Pontius from the previous games) to get the band back together after several years apart and find the prince before his nightmares manifest in the real world with predictably negative results.
Here’s a list of highlighted features from developer Frozenbyte, notably including four-player local and online co-op:
Key Features – Gorgeous, 2.5D landscapes. Explore uniquely designed levels in beautiful, 2.5 dimensions, from breathtaking ruins and haunted tombs to tranquil birch groves and blueberry forests. – Local and online multiplayer. Play with up to 4 players online or in local co-op. – Captivating storytelling. Follow the story of a haunted prince as you journey through magical fairytale landscapes inhabited by friendly creatures, as well as a host of nightmarish foes. – Dynamic puzzle-solving. Solve puzzles – solo or with friends – that featurefire, air, light, magnets, electricity and more, with challenges tailored to the number of players. – Abundant skill trees. Unlock diverse abilities and amazing new skills. – Completely revamped combat system. Experience the heroes’ own bloodcurdling nightmares in boss fights featuring an enriched combat system with fresh challenges and thrilling action! – Enchanting soundtrack. Enjoy a wondrous soundtrack with songs that bring life to each new environment.
The screenshots certainly look lovely, although there are no Switch-specific shots available as of yet. The game is lined up for an ‘Autumn 2019’ release date and the Switch version will set you back £29.99/€34.99 – £5/€5 more than other platforms.
Have you enjoyed the previous games in the series? Looking forward to this one and its four-player co-op? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Gun Media has revealed that it is bringing Friday The 13th: The Game to Nintendo Switch this Spring. The game was originally funded via Kickstarter and was released in 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Friday the 13th: The Game – Ultimate Slasher Switch Edition will include all of the content released for the game so far, including all of the paid-for DLC. That includes every Jason Kill Pack, both Counselor Clothing Packs, and the Emote Party Pack, but stops short at including the Kickstarter backer-exclusive “Savini Jason” character, or the backer-exclusive clothing pack.
Daniel Nixon, Gun Media’s Director of Communications, told Variety:
We’re happy to be bringing ‘Friday the 13th: The Game’ to the Nintendo Switch with the help of our partners at Black Tower and Nighthawk. The Nintendo Switch offers a unique experience, in both social settings and on the go, that we feel work very well with ‘Friday the 13th: The Game’.
This news is perhaps surprising, given that Gun Media has been prevented from releasing more DLC for the existing versions due to a legal battle with the original screenwriter of the movie franchise, Victor Miller, who is currently attempting to reclaim the rights to the characters he created for the 1980 movie which established the series.
As a result, Gun Media can only focus on console-dedicated servers and general maintenance, and cannot release any more DLC. This impasse clearly doesn’t prevent the developer from releasing additional console versions, hence the news of a Switch port.
Will you be investing in this horror title when it eventually arrives on Switch?
Is it possible to have too much Kirby? We’re not convinced so, and a new book announced in Japan has taken that sentiment to the next level. In addition to the mountain of merch already devoted to the pink one, Let’s Find Kirby is an official book in the vein of Where’s Waldo? (or Where’s Wally? for UK readers) where you must find a specific Kirby in a crowd of clones.
According to NintendoSoup, it’ll have 24 pages full to the brim with the saviour of Smash Bros. and you’ll be tasked with finding a specific Kirby amongst the hundreds across the page (the one with a balloon, for example, or the one brandishing a Star Rod). Check out the cover below:
There’s no word on a western release for this pink and puffy publication, although preorders are available with worldwide shipping from amazon.co.jp.
We’d imagine it’ll be easy enough to enjoy without being able to read Japanese, assuming you’ve got an application on your phone to help decipher which exact Kirby you’re looking for – it’ll be a considerable challenge, otherwise.
Enjoy searching for a piece of hay in an incredibly large stack of needles? Are there any other characters from Nintendo’s roster that would work well in this sort of book? Share your thoughts with a comment.
Much like its infinitely versatile mascot, the Kirby series has always been comfortable in taking many forms; Kirby has starred in several roles that diverge significantly from the copy-ability platforming of the mainline series. Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn – an enhanced re-release of the seminal 2010 title – falls in this lineage of off-beat sequels, exchanging the floating and power-copying with a more traditionally-focused platforming experience that features a striking visual art style. This new release also features a host of new gameplay and content updates to elevate its status above that of the original, making some welcome and much-needed changes while losing none of the charm that marked the initial release as such a classic.
The story opens with Kirby encountering a mysterious magician named Yin-Yarn while roaming Dreamland, and after a brief conflict, Yin-Yarn transports Kirby to a magical universe called Patch Land where everything is made out of yarn. Here, Kirby no longer has the ability to eat foes or fly indefinitely, but his new, stringy form allows him to shapeshift in myriad ways while also granting him a trusty whip that lets him unravel and ball up his enemies. The story – narrated by a hammy, but charming narrator – then follows Kirby’s adventures with Patch Land’s Prince Fluff, as they embark on a journey to sew Patch Land back together, get Kirby home, and defeat Yin-Yarn.
A typical stage in Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn plays out a bit like a level in the Yoshi series, where the focus is less on raw platforming challenge and more on taking things slow and finding secrets tucked away in all the nooks and crannies that pack each level. Along the way, you collect beads – the game’s main currency – along with furniture items and soundtracks hidden in obscure places. In the main mode, enemies are relatively harmless and Kirby can’t die; should you find yourself falling into a pit or crushed by a ceiling, Kirby simply respawns after spilling out a significant amount of beads. In the original release, this lack of death garnered plenty of criticism for the game being ‘too easy’, but we’d argue that misses the point. Every level awards you a bronze, silver, or gold medal upon completion depending on how many beads you finish with, and getting that gold on every level can sometimes prove to be a stiff challenge. With this set-up, less skilled players can still see all the content that the game has to offer, while those going for a full completion still have some resistance.
Those of you that still find Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn to be too easy an experience can then also choose to play any level in the new “Devilish Mode”, which sees Kirby having to clear a level while constantly being pursued by a flying demon of some sort – think the angry sun from Super Mario Bros. 3 – while also being restricted by a five-celled health bar. Should you take damage from the demon (or anything else) and have your health emptied, the level resets and you have to do everything over again. What’s nice about this system is that it neatly addresses the complaints of difficulty while not radically changing the base game; those of you that want more challenge can certainly find a more balanced experience here, while those of you that want something lighter and easier can just ignore it entirely.
Each world consists of a series of four levels that, once completed, unlock a boss battle, which then unlocks two extra levels. Each level is memorable and lovingly crafted around a central gimmick, such as how one stage is populated by dinosaurs that must be ridden across fast-moving rivers. Other levels orient the gimmick around a transformation for Kirby, such as how he can turn into a fire truck that can put out fires with its hose or a digging machine that can claw its way through loose cotton. These transformation levels are infrequent, but act as a nice break from the usual action of the rest of the levels, offering up the opportunity to try a different playstyle.
New to this re-release is a mechanic called “Ravel Abilities”, which brings gameplay a little more in line with the traditional Kirby experience. At key points of just about every level, you can find special hats for Kirby to wear that grant him something like copy abilities, and these can alter your approach to the level in fascinating ways. For example, one ability is a bit like the traditional Tornado ability, but here it essentially gives Kirby an extra jump, while also acting as a way of drawing in any nearby beads. It’s clear that the Ravel Abilities weren’t a part of the original design; their presence can seem kind of awkward in some levels that were obviously built with just the whip in mind, but their inclusion helps to add some replayability while also not muddling the original experience too drastically. We would’ve liked to have seen more content developed specifically with these abilities in mind, but it’s still a neat way of bringing Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn more in line with the core series without losing what makes this release so unique.
All those beads that you collect on your adventures can then be taken back to Quilty Square, which acts as a sort of home base that you can build up over the course of the campaign. At the outset of Kirby’s adventure, he’s given an apartment that can then be decorated with all the treasure you find, and more furniture can then be bought at a nearby store. On top of this, you can occasionally give a sizable donation to the apartment manager which can then be reinvested into building new floors that can host additional tenants. These tenants act as the main mini-game portion of Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, allowing you to run through slices of cleared levels with new objectives, such as playing hide and seek or collecting a set amount of beads in exchange for new wallpapers to decorate your apartment with. It’s clear that Quilty Square isn’t meant to be the main focus of your experience with Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, but it acts as a nice diversion from the main game that still ties in nicely with your overall goal.
Speaking of side content, two other, more substantial mini-games – called Slash & Bead and DeDeDe GoGoGo – have been added in for this re-release, both of which build on the ideas of the main campaign in interesting ways. Slash & Bead stars Meta Knight, and sees him flying and cutting his way through hordes of enemies in custom auto-scrolling levels that are built almost around a brawler style of gameplay. As the screen moves, Meta Knight must collect as many ‘Fuse Beads’ as possible while fighting through a relentless barrage of enemies and obstacles. These auto-scrolling segments are then punctuated by occasional timed arena-based segments where enemies pour in from all sides of the screen; racking up enough kills adds a few seconds to the timer and gives Meta Knight more time to collect those precious beads.
DeDeDe GoGoGo is similar, but here King DeDeDe is the star and gameplay functions more alike to an auto-runner. Here, the penguin king runs wildly through a stage and must collect as many Fuse Beads as possible while smacking things with his iconic hammer and dodging obstacles as they rush at him from the right. Both of these modes only feature a handful of levels, but are oriented around pushing for a high-score by repeated attempts that help to build up muscle memory. You’re graded at the end of each stage according to how fast and how efficiently you cleared it, but the main hook comes in the kinds of fuse beads you collected. Earning higher grades gives you more “Mats” that each require different colours and amounts of Fuse Beads; completing them allows you to craft elaborate, pixel art-like decorations that can then be hung in your apartment. Though neither of these mini-games prove to be an enormous draw, they each provide just enough extra challenge and fun to be worth the few hours that it takes to clear them, while further adding to the overall experience of Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn.
We’d be remiss to talk about Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn without mentioning the presentation, which drew enough acclaim and attention to warrant two (arguably) spiritual sequels in the Yoshi series. Though the details have taken a bit of a hit in the transition to a portable and sadly stereoscopic 3D has been omitted, the strength of the yarn-centric visuals still shines through and resonates just as much today as it did nine years ago. Little details, like unraveling yarn representing the downward sinking motion of quicksand, show immense creativity on the developers’ part, and using the yarn whip to do things like pulling on buttons and zippers creates a nice link between gameplay ideas and art style. Meanwhile, the colourful and cutesy visuals are backed by a similarly charming soundtrack that relies heavily on relaxing and chipper piano solos. Much like the visuals, the music creates a loving and friendly atmosphere that actively invites you to continue exploring new levels.
Conclusion
Nine years on from the original release, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn displays how focused gameplay design, creativity, and strong art direction are timeless qualities that can keep a game enjoyable and relevant for years to come. This design is then made even stronger by the inclusion of all the ‘extra’ elements, such as Ravel Abilities, new mini-games, and optional harder difficulty, which range from being harmless to actively changing the base game for the better. For those of you that never got the chance to play the original Kirby’s Epic Yarn, this is certainly the best way to experience it, while those of you that have played it will find this to be a solid portable version that loses none of the quality of the original. Either way, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn is a fantastic and standout addition to the deep software library of the 3DS; we’d highly encourage you to give it a go.
If you can think of a hugely popular franchise, chances are that there’s a LEGO set out there based on its worlds and characters. That is, apart from anything Nintendo-related; the very idea of Mario and Zelda sets are enough to get any fan excited and willing to throw money at them, but Nintendo has never allowed its IP to make the jump.
That doesn’t stop fans from trying, though. We’ve actually reported on several fan-made Zelda LEGO projects in the past, all uploaded to the LEGO Ideas site. This website allows fan-made projects to collect votes from the public, with some going on to be made into the real deal, and the latest to catch our attention is this effort from user Hanwasyellowfirst.
Based on Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s stables, this concept has already gained just under 1,000 supporters at the time of writing. The creator has shared some of the reasoning behind the idea, and also some additional info on how it should be created.
“I chose the Stable as it captures well the spirit of this great Zelda game. Stables can be found throughout the vast landscape of Hyrule and I think it looks great as a LEGO set too, plus… horses!
The roof sections are hinged to allow the stable and horse pen to open up. Inside are 4 beds, a table and chairs, a recipe and the reception desk (for the trusty Stable Master to turn trusty Inn-keep).
Contents: Stable Fire Pit & Benches Crates and Ingredients (various) Weapons (various) Horses x3
The creator notes that you’ll have to use your imagination when it comes to the Minifigures – the final design would have Link and others in LEGO form. Still, we think the stable design itself is great and it certainly reminds us of our time in Hyrule.
Here’s how the stables look in-game
If you feel like checking it out and giving the project a vote yourself, you can do so right here.
Would you like to see Zelda LEGO become a real thing? Which Nintendo franchises do you think would be a good fit? Let us know in the comments.
Nintendo is gearing up for its Mario Day celebrations (10th March, or ‘MAR 10’) by offering discounts on a number of juicy titles featuring everyone’s favourite moustachioed plumber. Unless you’re a Luigi fan like us.
There are eight games up for grabs in total, ranging from sports games to platformers and everything in between. The discounts are available through the North American My Nintendo rewards system; as always, you can take advantage of these discounts by simply using the required Gold or Platinum My Nintendo Points listed below.
Interestingly, a 40% discount on Sparkle Snapshots 3D has also been included in the Mario Day celebration roundup (some Mario references are included in backgrounds and frames within the game, but it seems like a bit of a stretch to us). You can get the discount for 120 Platinum Points if you’re interested.
On top of all of this, Nintendo is also offering a printable Mario Bingo game, printable game party invites, and gift card envelopes, perfect for anyone looking to host their own party or gathering on Mario Day itself. You can check them all out for yourself here.
Will you be celebrating Mario Day? Will you be playing some Sparkle Snapshots 3D to do just that? Let us know below.
The Nintendo Switch is now over two years old, and in that time it has seen a staggering number of games. The vast majority of these are digital titles released on the console’s eShop, and as the Switch’s install base has ballooned over the past two years, so two has the volume of digital content released on it each week.
For anyone who stood by Nintendo during the Wii U era, this is a welcome change. There were some weeks when only a couple of titles would be released on the Wii U eShop, but now, it’s normal to see as many as 30 new titles arrive in each download update, if not more. A well-stocked digital storefront is the sign of a healthy platform, and choice is always a good thing if you’re a consumer. However, if you’re a developer of one of those many games, is such a large volume of releases a benefit or a hindrance?
How do games perform on Switch when compared to other platforms, and is the ‘Switch goldrush’ slowly coming to an end as the eShop reaches saturation point? What can Nintendo do to make sure games don’t vanish without trace due to poor discoverability? Keen for answers, we spoke to a wide range of indie developers to get their perspective on the state of the eShop in 2019.
Here’s who we spoke to:
What’s your experience been like with the Switch eShop so far?
Dan Muir (Hound Picked Games): Pretty good, though I do feel it would make sense for titles, or developers, to be assigned an account manager, who is your total point of contact for everything. It does get somewhat confusing when you’re passed pillar to post when you’re in need of assistance. The visibility on the store is something that needs to be addressed, especially with the sheer volume of titles being released now.
Chris Obritsch (Causal Bit Games): Largely favourable, but like with the other stores, hiccups do happen, from a dev point of view. Communication with support could be slightly pacier, but they’re generally very nice to deal with, and utterly professional.
Monster Boy on Switch has massively outperformed the other versions, according to publisher FDG
Joshua van Kuilenburg (HomeBearStudio): With NAIRI: Tower of Shirin being our first game, we have little frame of reference for now. That said, we’re quite happy with how smooth the experience has been for us releasing on the eShop.
Dugan Jackson (Tikipod): Very positive, and we have so far only been re-releasing titles with enhancements (such as Iron Crypticle and Aqua Kitty UDX). It will be interesting to see how an all-new game will fair for us on Switch.
Thomas Whitehead (CIRCLE Entertainment): Both CIRCLE and Flyhigh Works have been very active on the Switch eShop since day one, from the early boom period to the current crowded marketplace. Those descriptions sum up the progression, really. In the first 6-12 months the release slate was quieter, so if you got traction a game could go big even if that was ultimately a surprise. Of course, the success of the system attracted more and bigger companies, and I don’t just mean corporate behemoths but also more ‘big Indies’ and download-centric publishers, ie: the likes of Devolver Digital, Team17 and so on. So in terms of how it’s been for us, well, it’s a big part of what we do, with pretty much all of our games coming to Switch and only some also (currently) getting releases on the likes of Steam and PS4. So the Switch eShop is valuable and is the core of the business, and Nintendo is also very supportive and eager to encourage download games on the system.
Michael Heald (Fully Illustrated): We got Wulverblade onto the Switch fairly early on when there were around 200 games on there, and while we did ok, once we were off the new release list and ended up in the long normal list, sales dropped very steadily. Now with over 1000 games on there, finding our game is very challenging.
Andy Pearson (PQube): Very positive so far. There’s no doubt it has helped invigorate the digital landscape.
Nik Makin (Makin Games): The experience was great. Raging Justice was in the top 10 (UK) for a few weeks after launch and had great initial visibility.
Mike Daw (Infinite State Games): Really good! It’s quick to load, shows a nice number of games at once, game’s individual pages load very quickly and have a nice layout, the search function is quick, too.
Thomas Kern (FDG Entertainment): It’s been great! We’ve now released three games on the eShop: Oceanhorn, Blossom Tales and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. It was a very smooth process every time. We like how every game page can have its own colour scheme on the eShop and how quickly it is to access game pages and the store overall. It loads really fast.
What have sales been like compared to other digital stores?
Dan Muir: Both of the games we’ve co-published have largely outperformed other stores quite significantly.
Chris Obritsch: Good! As we expected, depending on the day and marketing it’s anywhere from 4:1 to 8:1 sales-wise between Switch and other consoles.
Joshua van Kuilenburg: Overall, Switch sales have been most successful as of right now. This is due to the system’s popularity and the fact that Switch players match our target audience a bit better. The Switch version also has additional control features and, of course, handheld mode, which may have pushed potential Steam customers to the Switch.
Thomas Whitehead: There have been different ‘phases’ of the eShop, especially for companies of our size. Focusing on the more recent and relevant period some games – for example, sequels or those from developers we’re partnered with that are well known – can maintain solid results nowadays that aren’t necessarily too far off equivalent sales from earlier in the Switch lifecycle. With others though it’s undeniably tougher, especially if the scheduling Gods are cruel. You can plan ahead, look at the publicly-released schedules and so on, but sometimes release day comes and the store is swamped, and getting noticed above the crowd can be a challenge. From my understanding, though, Switch is still a really strong market for games like ours compared to Steam and PS4. With PS4 the download scene in Japan, particularly, is relatively weak for smaller games, and from a ‘Western’ perspective I don’t really feel like download-specific games are pushed at me when I pop on the PS Store. And no wonder, because the system is crammed with retail titles. As for Steam, well it’s a madhouse of course! If you go big on Steam it’s wonderful, but it’s so full of games that’s easier said than done. In summary, Switch is still a good storefront for us.
NAIRI: Tower of Shirin is another indie success story on Switch
Michael Heald: Sales on Switch are, to date, much higher than all the other platforms combined. But now that things have levelled out, I’d say they’re on par with the other console platforms.
Andy Pearson: We found that Switch is growing and actually exceeding sales of other platforms on certain titles. There have been games where the natural assumption was that Steam would be the lead platform, but we’ve found Switch to be significantly ahead in terms of sales in many cases.
Nik Makin: Sales of Raging Justice have been very good on Switch, though I can’t give direct comparisons, we are more than happy with how we’ve sold on Switch through the eShop.
Mike Daw: It’s much better when you appear in the ‘new releases’ section, then tapers off much quicker than other stores once you fall outside that. The amount of releases is increasing rapidly though, so it will be interesting to see if that’s still the case going forward.
Thomas Kern: All games sold better on Switch compared to other consoles or Steam. In some cases, it’s an insane difference, rather unbelievable to be honest. Blossom Tales, for example, sold 20 times more on Nintendo Switch than on Steam, even though it launched on Steam first and one year before Switch. On a side note, the eShop turned Blossom Tales around and saved the development studio from shutting down. As for Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, it’s once again an extreme ratio. Nintendo Switch sales vs. PS4 and Xbox One combined is 8:1!
If you’ve been building a physical library of games on the Nintendo Switch over the past few years, Limited Run Games has an upcoming release it thinks fans will be “very excited” about.
This tease was made over on Twitter by the company’s owner, John Fairhurst:
Unsurprisingly, it sent fan speculation wild – with some hoping it was Hollow Knight, after it was recently classified by the ESRB. Others decided to make much sillier predictions such as Excite Truck and Half-Life 3.
What do you think this upcoming LRG Switch release could be? What would you like it to be? Tell us down below.
