Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Is Getting A Gorgeous New Art Book
Nintendo and Kadokawa are set to release a brand new Xenoblade Chronicles 2 art book called ‘Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Official Artworks Alrest Record’.
The book will feature illustrations from the game’s main character designer Masatsugu Saito, four special illustrations by rare blade designer CHOCO, and contains art from both Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country. Characters, weapons, rare blades, titans, monsters, objects, and more will all appear.
It also includes lines from the game’s most memorable moments as part of a ‘story playback’ feature, and all of this content is wrapped up inside the gorgeous, 352-page book shown below. It’s A4 in size and is available in paperback.
Pre-orders have now gone live on Amazon Japan (the book is scheduled to launch on 2nd February) and costs ¥ 3,132 (approx. £22 / $29). While no western release has been confirmed, Amazon Japan does offer international shipping to most areas so importing shouldn’t be an issue.
Are you a Xenoblade fan? Would you like an official art book for your collection? Let us know if you’re considering buying a copy in the comments.
Top 10 UK Games Chart: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe Debuts At No.1 [Updated]
Update: UKIE, the suppliers of the UK games chart, has stated the charts it and GfK Chart-Track issued earlier today were "missing a significant number of sales, across multiple retailers." This data has since been amended and the list of top 10 games below has been updated to reflect this. There was one change resulting from the new information, with Bandai Namco's Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition debuting at No.9, instead of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Original story follows.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for Nintendo Switch has debuted at the top of the UK physical sales chart, according to sales monitor GfK Chart-Track. The Switch exclusive was the best-selling boxed game for the week ending January 12, superseding FIFA 19, which drops to No.2.
Aside from Mario's remastered outing, there was only one new release last week. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition came to Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, debuting at No.11.
Mario's latest adventure reviewed well and was awarded a 7/10 in GameSpot's New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe review. "Despite its aging formula, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is still a great entry in the series, with its typically tight platforming and both accessibility and depth to spare," we wrote. "While it can feel a bit stale for those who have been round the Mushroom Kingdom one too many times before, Deluxe is well worth playing, especially if you didn't get a chance to play NSMBU on Wii U."
You can read the full top 10 sales chart for this week below, courtesy of UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
With the recent release of Godot 3.1 beta, it’s a good time to look at the future. That is exactly what Juan Linietsky, lead developer on the Godot engine has done. On Twitter he laid out his current roadmap for development priorities in Godot 4.0/4.1.
In a pair of tweets, he first discussed general Godot improvements, mostly around the renderer:
Then in a second tweet, he discussed Physics improvements:
Keep in mind, although Juan is the lead and perhaps most important developer on the Godot team, he is by no means the only one. This means even though you don’t see a feature on the two above lists doesn’t mean it wont happen, as there is a vibrant community of developers adding new features to Godot.
As power-hungry warlords battle one another for control of feudal Japan, a young princess is kidnapped. Now, one lone swordsman, Samanosuke, boldly volunteers to rescue and avenge her. An entire legion of demon warriors stands between you and the princess, so you'll need all your weapons and magic to break through. The world of Onimusha: Warlords comes alive with waterfalls, wind effects, insects, and weather, but in order to triumph, you must stay focused on your mission.
In a ruined desert, a strange golden dust transforms a free-spirited bird into a determined young child, setting off a chain of events that will reshape the world itself. From the team at Friend & Foe Games, Vane is a stunning, emotional and unnerving experience.
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season Episode 3: Broken Toys
After years on the road facing threats both living and dead, a secluded school might finally be Clementine and AJ?s chance for a home. But protecting it will mean sacrifice. In this gripping, emotional final season, your choices define your relationships, shape your world, and determine how Clementine?s story ends.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-15-2019, 11:33 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Improbable calls for Unity to clarify TOS in wake of SpatialOS dev concerns
SpatialOS developer Improbable has published “a final statement on SpatialOS and Unity” with the goal of summarizing the last day’s worth of public back-and-forth between it and Unity. In the post, the company calls for Unity to clarify recent changes to its Terms of Service that have seemingly put Unity-based games that utilize SpatialOS at risk.
The post, which can be read in its entirety on Improbable’s website, reiterates its original argument that changes to Unity’s Terms of Service make it so that any owner or user of a managed service (like SpatialOS in this case) can be potentially found in breach of Unity’s terms, despite Unity’s informal assurances that this is not the case.
Improbable has already been found in violation of Unity’s terms (a violation the company refutes in this latest post) and had its Unity licenses revoked as a result. So while Unity says that the TOS changes don’t affect individual game developers with live or in-production SpatialOS games, Improbable says that, with its Unity access cut off, it is no longer able to legally support those projects, fix Unity-centric bugs, or improve the service for those devs.
Unity’s post from yesterday (published in response to Improbable’s original notice) outlines why the company says SpatialOS devs don’t need to be concerned with the falling out between the two companies, but, as Improbable argues now, the actual text of the TOS offers none of those same assurances. Unity has, in an update to that post, said it is currently working to make its TOS clearer.
“Currently the lack of clarity in the Terms of Service for Unity – and the ambiguity created by their subsequent statements – places us and developers in a difficult situation,” says Improbable. “We urgently need clarity in order to move forward.”
Improbable goes on to note that it does not have technical arrangements with other engine makers like Crytek and Epic Games, and that commercial arrangement should not be prerequisite for services to run as intended.
“Our preference would be that Unity simply adopts industry standard practice and allows platforms to host the engine as was the case before the change in Terms of Service. Failing that, Unity must grant Improbable sufficient legal basis to protect its existing customers, or be honest with the community about the situation.”
Meanwhile, Improbable has teamed up with Epic Games to open a $25 million fund dedicated to helping SpatialOS developers “left in limbo by the new engine and service incompatibilities” introduced by the Unity/Improbable falling out migrate from Unity to Unreal Engine.
Xbox Game Pass: Play the Games You Love and Get Microsoft Rewards Points
Happy New Year, fellow gamers!
We’re excited to kick off 2019 with seven exclusive Xbox Game Pass quests! Members can earn up to 2100 Microsoft Rewards points by playing any game from the Xbox Game Pass catalog. It’s easy to rack up points that you can spend towards your membership or DLC for your favorite games — just play the games you love and watch your rewards grow.
How does it work?
Head to the Xbox Game Pass membership area on your Xbox One console to check out your quests. Members in the United States who complete their quests will earn Microsoft Rewards points. If you are not already a Microsoft Rewards member, you will be prompted to sign up on your Xbox One.
Track your progress on Xbox One
It is easy to track your progress. Just open the Microsoft Rewards app on your Xbox and check your quests. Your quest progress will update as you complete your quests.
What games can I play?
For the first time ever, you can earn points playing any game from the Xbox Game Pass catalog. Complete up to seven exclusive Xbox Game Pass quests before February 3 and earn up to 2100 Microsoft Rewards points:
Extraction Expert: Complete two specific extraction achievements in Tom Clancy’s The Division to get up to 200 points. You earn points with each achievement. Complete this before January 31.
Metro Redux: Play Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux to complete four specific achievements and get up to 200 points. You earn points with each achievement.
Adventurer: Bring out your inner adventurer and get up to 200 points when you complete two specific achievements in Strange Brigade. You earn points with each achievement.
Achievement Hunter: Get points with your first achievement and continue to complete up to 21 achievements in any combination of Xbox Game Pass games to get a maximum of 600 points.
Genre Explorer: Get 300 points when you complete an achievement in three games from different genres.
Play something new: Complete an achievement in a Xbox Game Pass title that was added in December to get 100 points.
Quest Master: Complete all Xbox Game Pass quests to get an additional 500 points.
Check your Xbox One console for more details on each of the quests.
Stay tuned for new Xbox Game Pass quests
We’ll have new quests lined up every month and will unlock the next set of quests on February 4. So, stay tuned in the Xbox Game Pass membership area on your Xbox One.
With over 100 great games for one low monthly price, including highly-anticipated new Xbox One exclusives the day they’re released, plus more games added all the time, Xbox Game Pass gives you the ultimate freedom to explore and play. If you haven’t tried Xbox Game Pass, join today and get your first full month for $1, and discover your next favorite game.
Daily Deal – Sonic Franchise Advertising App, 75 – 85 % Off
We’ve just rolled out an update that makes it easier to find downloadable content for your favorite games. Any game that offers DLC will now have a sortable, featured page of all of its DLC in one place. Furthermore, (and especially for games that have a tons of DLC) we’re providing ways for developers to customize how these pages by creating lists, adding branding and specifying which titles to feature.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-15-2019, 09:32 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Fortnite Was Nintendo Switch's Most-Played Game Last Year In Europe
Nintendo has revealed the most-played Nintendo Switch games of 2018 in Europe, and the title at the top of the list probably will not surprise you.
The news feed on the console in Europe reveals the most-played Switch game of the past year was Epic's free-to-play battle royale game, Fortnite. Rounding out the top five were all Nintendo-made games: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The only reason Super Smash Bros. Ultimate isn't near the top is probably because it only just launched in December. Nintendo didn't share any numbers about specific play-time hours, so we don't know the gaps between the different games.
Still, it's not all that surprising that Fortnite is No. 1 given the game's immense global popularity. As mentioned, this chart is only for Europe. It doesn't appear that Nintendo published similar most-played lists in the US or other parts of the world.
NintendoEverything first reported this news. The top 20 most-played games for Nintendo Switch in Europe can be seen at the bottom of this post.
NPD analyst Mat Piscatella responded to the news, saying he expects Fortnite's massive success to have an impact on the wider industry in 2019. Specifically, he said the way in which the game's massive success propelled gains for hardware and microtransaction spending in 2018 may be hard to replicate, especially in the first half of 2019.
Nintendo announces Fortnite as the most played game on Switch in 2018. One of 2019's biggest market challenges will be meeting the comparable $ volumes set by Fortnite and its impact across all platforms in HW, MTX and ACC last year, particularly in 1H. Won't be easy.
