{"id":12037,"date":"2018-02-03T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend"},"modified":"2018-02-03T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T12:00:00","slug":"talking-point-what-games-are-you-playing-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/02\/03\/talking-point-what-games-are-you-playing-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking Point: What Games Are You Playing This Weekend?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend\/attachment\/0\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend\/attachment\/0\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Night in the Woods\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>After a long vacation overseas, our weekly &#8216;What Games Are You Playing This Weekend?&#8217; feature is back, refreshed, revitalised and ready to go it again in 2018. Talking of 2018, we&#8217;re barely a month in and we&#8217;ve already been treated to some great new games on Nintendo Switch, with countless more gems on the horizon in the months to come.<\/p>\n<p>Question is, what games are the team at Nintendo Life playing on their respective days off? Whether it&#8217;s games we&#8217;re playing for review, or titles we&#8217;re catching up on from our respective piles of shame, our writers and editors are enjoying a veritable smorgasbord of games on Nintendo Switch, 3DS and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Here are this week&#8217;s hot picks&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3>Ryan Craddock, news reporter<\/h3>\n<p>In the last of these features back in December, I specifically remember saying that I wanted to have completed <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds\/metroid_samus_returns\">Metroid: Samus Returns<\/a><\/strong> over the holidays. In a twist that will surprise absolutely no one, I failed to do this and have only recently got back into the game\u2019s murky depths.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend will therefore be spent purging the world of those pesky Metroids and any left-over time will likely be given to some local multiplayer <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/arms\"><strong>ARMS<\/strong><\/a>. We\u2019ve been really enjoying some late-night matches in my house recently and I just can\u2019t say no to some (almost) healthy competition!<\/p>\n<h3>Mitch Vogel, US news editor<\/h3>\n<p>I\u2019ve been on a JRPG kick lately, due in no small part to doing the review of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/lost_sphear\">Lost Sphear<\/a><\/strong>. I understand why it divided opinion, but I\u2019ve got a soft spot for traditional RPGs in that style, and I\u2019ve been having a blast with it so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When I get bored of Lost Sphear, I\u2019m going switch to something a little more modern and boundary pushing with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/xenoblade_chronicles_2\"><strong>Xenoblade Chronicles 2<\/strong><\/a>. I\u2019ve been rather distracted by other releases since getting it in December and I feel as though I\u2019ve barely begun to scratch the surface, despite being about 15 hours in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Liam Doolan, Australia correspondent<\/h3>\n<p>With <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/rocket_league\">Rocket League<\/a><\/strong> still near the top of the charts on the Switch eShop, I\u2019m guessing I\u2019m not alone when I say I\u2019ll be playing Psyonix\u2019s arcade soccer\/driving hybrid this weekend. Even though I own three copies, I find I\u2019m still addicted as I was when I originally acquired the game on PC a few years ago.<\/p>\n<p>In the Switch version, I\u2019ve mostly spent my time playing the online mode. I normally tell myself I\u2019ll just play a few quick rounds before I begin a more intense session on some other game. An hour or two later and I\u2019m still boosting for goals.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend\/attachment\/1\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend\/attachment\/1\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Oxenfree\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h3>Alex Olney, video producer<\/h3>\n<p>This weekend I\u2019ve got that luxury of not having a whole lot to actually do; the flat\u2019s been cleaned, I only need to head out at some point to get a plant, and that\u2019s about it, so you\u2019re absolutely right that I\u2019m going to enjoy some lovely, delicious gaming goodness.<\/p>\n<p>I recently downloaded <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/oxenfree\"><strong>Oxenfree<\/strong><\/a> for a bargain price, so that will undoubtedly be taking up some of the evenings, but for a lot of the time I can absolutely see myself delving into some over-the-top action in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/doom\"><strong>DOOM<\/strong><\/a>. I\u2019ve actually been playing it online quite a bit and I\u2019m really, really enjoying it. I haven\u2019t really played many online shooters except <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/splatoon_2\">Splatoon 2<\/a><\/strong> since my Xbox Live subscription ran out about four years or so ago, so it\u2019s a real treat to be diving right back into it with something as refined and ridiculous as DOOM on Switch.<\/p>\n<h3>Gon\u00e7alo Lopes, contributing writer<\/h3>\n<p>To the surprise of no one I will be spending this weekend among the Titans Of Alrest. Yes, I was done with main plot from <strong>Xenoblade Chronicles 2<\/strong> on New Years Eve but much like it\u2019s predecessors a very large chunk of the experience is in actually exploring the vast world for more content and as usual this is something Monolith never fails to deliver.<\/p>\n<p>But when no one is looking, I must t admit to be quite hooked on the unlikely <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/dustoff_heli_rescue_2\">Dustoff Heli Rescue 2<\/a><\/strong>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/01\/preview_hands_on_and_flying_high_with_dustoff_heli_rescue_2\">Dom\u2019s preview piqued my interest<\/a> but I was pleasantly surprise to find under the casual game guise it hides a hardcore <strong>Choplifter<\/strong> experience that will both test your skills and nerves as you try to perfect each of the 35 missions. And I haven&#8217;t even mentioned the Stargate I found on mission 12&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3>Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, editor<\/h3>\n<p>This weekend I&#8217;ll be returning to Possum Falls as I take <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/night_in_the_woods\">Night In The Woods<\/a><\/strong> on Nintendo Switch for a ride. I only played it briefly on another platform, but retooled for the handheld freedom of Switch its mysterious take of identity, death, black humour and personal awakening already has me spellbound. I&#8217;m taking care of Nintendo Life&#8217;s official review, so look out for that on the site early next week.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll also be playing more <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds\/code_name_steam\">Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.<\/a><\/strong> (my new favourite game on 3DS), which I discovered last month while spending a Christmas GAME voucher. It&#8217;s turn-based, third-person action is addictive to the point of being dangerous. I love it, so so much.<\/p>\n<h3>Damien McFerran, editorial director<\/h3>\n<p>In keeping with the fact that I&#8217;m an old relic who thinks retro games are better than modern ones, I&#8217;ll be playing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/gba\/advance_wars\"><strong>Advance Wars<\/strong><\/a> on my trusty GBA SP this weekend. Alex&#8217;s excellent video listing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/01\/video_the_26_best_game_boy_advance_games_of_all_time\">the 26 games you simply have to play on your GBA<\/a> inspired me to make this choice, but I&#8217;ve been meaning to drop back into Intelligent Systems&#8217; seminal tactical series for some time now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been spurred on by the excellent <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/tiny_metal\">Tiny Metal<\/a><\/strong> on Switch, which is as close to a spiritual successor as you&#8217;re likely to get these days. I have fond memories of playing Advance Wars back in the day but I never did complete it; sounds like a challenge I&#8217;ll have to step up to now.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend\/attachment\/2\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/talking_point_what_games_are_you_playing_this_weekend\/attachment\/2\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h3>Dave Frear, retro reviewer<\/h3>\n<p>I hope to dive back in to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild\">The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild<\/a><\/strong>. It was easily my most played game last year, but due to being busy with other titles later on, I\u2019ve not really bothered with the last DLC that came out. The plan is to get stuck into that this weekend, but it\u2019s the kind of game where plans quickly change.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No doubt I\u2019ll get distracted by something off in the distance and go to investigate, perhaps stumble into a side quest I haven\u2019t done or find a really good slope for shield surfing. I suspect there will be unplanned battles along the way, I\u2019ll forget what it was I originally intended to do and ultimately pop by a stable and gallop off, singing the words to My Lovely Horse.<\/p>\n<h3>Jon Cousins, Japan correspondent<\/h3>\n<p>I&#8217;ll be playing through <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/celeste\">Celeste<\/a><\/strong> again, this time on my TV, trying to pick up the B-sides, extra strawberries and just in general take a bit more time and challenge myself with its mountainous levels. Apart from that, I dip in to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/super_one_more_jump\">Super One More Jump<\/a><\/strong> every so often. It&#8217;s great to pick up and chip away at, and it&#8217;s also a great way to see how creative your swearing becomes the more you go wrong!\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Darren Calvert, operations director<\/h3>\n<p>This weekend I will mostly be playing the excellent <strong>Celeste<\/strong> on Switch. I\u2019ve only put a few hours into it so far, but it\u2019s totally won me over with its tight gameplay and retro charms\u2026 I can\u2019t wait to risk life and limb in order to collect more of those fiendish floating strawberries. We\u2019re so spoiled at the moment on the Switch eShop, there are so many amazing games coming out each week\u2026 but if you haven\u2019t tried Celeste yet I would certainly recommend giving it a try soon.<\/p>\n<h3>Tony Stephenson, social media manager<\/h3>\n<p>As well as avoiding red shells frantically in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/mario_kart_8_deluxe\">Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/a><\/strong>, I&#8217;m also taking part in a <strong>Rocket League<\/strong> tournament, organised by Nintendo Players UK, as part of the group I also run. I am shocking at the game but it is so much fun! Also, I&#8217;ve seemed to have caught the <strong>ARMS<\/strong> bug so will be taking part in the Party Clash. I have no idea how that will go as I&#8217;ve only ever played as Min Min. Hey ho, let&#8217;s give it a go.<\/p>\n<h3>Glen Fox, guides editor<\/h3>\n<p>I plan to dig into <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wii\/legend_of_zelda_skyward_sword\">The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for the very first time. I\u2019m not particularly comfortable going public with that, given that Zelda is in my top five favourite franchises of all time, but I have some serious unfinished business with Wii. I blame my bee in the bonnet about the lack of HD at a time when it was all the rage. Sigh.<\/p>\n<h3>Dave Letcavage, contributing writer<\/h3>\n<p>I feel such guilt. Three Switch games remain in the packaging (Xenoblade Chronicles 2, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/elder_scrolls_v_skyrim\"><strong>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/strong><\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/end_is_nigh\"><strong>The End Is Nigh<\/strong><\/a>) and I\u2019ve left a couple eShop games unfinished. So, this weekend, should I find the time, I\u2019ve got to start checking marks off that list. I have no idea what I\u2019ll decide on yet, but I do know that completing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/shu\"><strong>Shu<\/strong><\/a> is high priority. That\u2019s if I can power up the Switch without \u201caccidentally\u201d booting up <strong>ARMS<\/strong>&#8230; That ARMS icon always calls to me from the dashboard, and I\u2019m rarely strong enough to say no.<\/p>\n<div id=\"poll-feb02weekend\" class=\"poll\">\n<div class=\"results\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\">Which games are you playing this weekend? (550 votes)<\/h3>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Metroid: Samus Returns<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"12 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">2%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Lost Sphear<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg no-votes\">\u00a0<\/span> <span title=\"2 votes\">0%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Xenoblade Chronicles 2<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"55 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">10%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Rocket League<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"35 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">6%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Oxenfree<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"11 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">2%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Splatoon 2<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"61 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">11%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Night In The Woods<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"31 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">6%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"4 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">1%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Advance Wars<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"4 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">1%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Tiny Metal<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"4 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">1%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"48 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">9%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Celeste<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"40 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">7%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Super One More Jump<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg no-votes\">\u00a0<\/span> <span title=\"1 vote\">0%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"4 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">1%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"23 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">4%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">The End Is Nigh<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"3 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">1%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Dustoff Heli Rescue 2<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg no-votes\">\u00a0<\/span> <span title=\"2 votes\">0%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Mario Kart 8 Deluxe<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"24 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">4%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"result\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">Something else! (Tell us in the comments.)<\/h4>\n<p class=\"votes\"><span title=\"146 votes\"><span class=\"bar accent-bg\">27%<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"empty\">Please <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/login\">login<\/a> to vote in this poll.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>So that&#8217;s our picks for the weekend, but which games are you most excited to play over the next couple of days? We&#8217;d love to hear which new (or old) games from Nintendo&#8217;s many libraries will be on your to-do list. Get commenting below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a long vacation overseas, our weekly &#8216;What Games Are You Playing This Weekend?&#8217; feature is back, refreshed, revitalised and ready to go it again in 2018. Talking of 2018, we&#8217;re barely a month in and we&#8217;ve already been treated to some great new games on Nintendo Switch, with countless more gems on the horizon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}