Nintendo Switch got off to a hot start at launch last year, and that success carried through the end of 2017. Through its first 10 months on the market, Switch is now the best-selling home console in US history, according to Nintendo.
In those 10 months, which cover the period from launch in March 2017 through the beginning of this month, Nintendo has sold 4.8 million Switch units in the US. That figure tops the mark set by any previous home console in its first 10 months on the market, including the record set by the Wii, which sold 4 million units in the US in a comparable span of time. Through September, Switch sales stood at 2 million units.
Nintendo also shared news about how some of the platform's major games have performed. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Switch's big launch game, has seen at attach rate of "over" 55% in the US, meaning sales are at least 2.64 million units. Super Mario Odyssey, despite having launched at the end of October, is already over 60% (2.88 million). Take note that Breath of the Wild is also available on Wii U, which may be a factor in its lower attach rate. Also performing well were Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (over 50%, or 2.4 million copies) and Splatoon 2 (over 20%, or 960,000 copies).
Buckle up, Rick & Morty fans, you may be in for a long wait. Though Season 3 ended in October, it's entirely possible there will be a nearly two-year gap before the Adult Swim series returns.
That news comes care of Ryan Ridley, a writer and producer on the series. Speaking to the Detroit Cast in early December, Ridley revealed that work on Season 4 has yet to begin. "They really take their time. I never understood why everybody--all parties, Dan [Harmon], Justin [Roiland], and Adult Swim--didn't get their s*** together, and make the show fast," he says. "I just don't get it. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm sure they all have their reasons."
Given how long the process takes, Ridley isn't hopeful that fans will get new episodes anytime soon. "We got done writing Season 3 in November of last year and here we are 11 months later," he explains. "And then I know how long the show takes to write, let alone animate, so it's just like, I'd be surprised if there was a fourth season on the air any sooner than 2019--in late 2019."
While Season 3 technically launched on April 1 with an April Fool's Day episode streaming online, new episodes didn't begin airing weekly until July--eight months after Ridley says writing was finished in November. If he's not expecting a new season until late 2019, it seems that writing on new episodes won't begin anytime soon.
That said, per Polygon, Adult Swim hasn't actually renewed Rick & Morty for a fourth season, though Ridley is positive it will happen. Harmon, a co-creator on the show, also confirmed at New York Comic-Con that a fourth season was guaranteed.
If you don't know how to handle the long break before a new season of Rick & Morty arrives, never fear because GameSpot is here. You can check out our episode breakdowns to dig even deeper into the series.
If you hadn't noticed, it is no longer 2017. And you know what that means: cheap video games! To celebrate the new year, Nintendo UK is discounting a number of Eshop titles on both Switch and 3DS.
Some big Switch games are included in the Happy New Year sale, including Nintendo's fighting game, Arms, which is 20% off at £40. 1-2-Switch, meanwhile, is down to £28--a 30% reduction on the standard Eshop price. More Switch games on offer include NBA 2K18 (£35.74), Flip Wars (£6.29), LA Noire (£33.74), WWE 2K18 (£33), and SteamWorld Dig 2 (£11). Plenty more titles are discounted in the sale; take a look at the full list here.
The next major expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online is on the way soon. Bethesda has shared the first details for the Dragon Bones DLC pack, which is slated to arrive next month and introduces two new dungeons and other content to the online RPG.
The centerpiece of the Dragon Bones expansion is the aforementioned pair of dungeons, Scalecaller Peak and Fang Lair. Bethesda describes Scalecaller Peak as "the burial site of a long-dead Dragon Priest," which is now teeming with cultists who plot to unleash a deadly plague upon Tamriel. Fang Lair, meanwhile, is "an ancient Dwarven ruin" where a dark sorcerer is attempting to revive a fearsome dragon.
Players will encounter new and returning monsters within the two new dungeons, such as "plague-ridden ogres, powerful sorcerers and their undead creations, and even the reanimated bones of an ancient dragon." Both will be available in Normal and Veteran modes; the latter will also boast a Hard mode for each dungeon's final boss fight.
In addition to the new dungeons, the Dragon Bones expansion adds new items, monster sets, and achievements. One of the new items is the Renegade Dragon Priest Mask, which players will earn simply for entering one of the game's two new dungeons.
The Dragon Bones pack releases in February. Like previous expansions, it will be available to purchase from the in-game Crown Store, while ESO Plus members will receive it for no additional cost. Coinciding with the expansion's release, Bethesda will roll out Elder Scrolls Online's next free update, dubbed Update 17, which will be available to all ESO players.
Update 17 introduces several new features to the MMO, including the ability to store items in your home and a new Outfit system that allows you to customize the appearance of your equipment. The update also adds two new PvP Battlegrounds: Mor Khazgur and Deeping Drome. However, players will need to own ESO's Morrowind expansion in order to play the Battlegrounds mode. You can read more about the Dragon Bones expansion and Update 17 on the official ESO website.
Voting for the second annual Steam Awards recently concluded, and Valve has now revealed the winners. Although the categories are more unusual than what we're accustomed to seeing from end-of-year awards, that didn't stop the usual suspects from winning.
The Labor of Love award, for older titles with strong continued support, went to Warframe, beating out games such as Team Fortress 2 and Path of Exile. The Suspension of Disbelief category went to Rocket League, while Cuphead, Just Cause 3, and Stardew Valley won other awards. Cuphead was the only game to win more than one award this year, taking home both Best Soundtrack and Even Better Than I Expected. You can see the full list of winners below or on Steam.
Each category consisted of five games that Steam users could vote on. Those five were nominated by users previously, with categories each opening up for a single day during the just-concluded Steam winter sale.
Steam Awards 2017 Winners
Choices Matter -- The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
Mom's Spaghetti -- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Labor Of Love -- Warframe
Suspension of Disbelief -- Rocket League
The World Is Grim Enough, Let's Just All Get Along -- Stardew Valley
By Anonymous on Jan 04, 2018 10:48 pm Erick and Mike go old school and try the Diablo style dungeon set in Diablo III with the Darkening of Tristram yearly event.
Following years of financial troubles, it looked as if Mad Catz had finally met its end last year when it filed for bankruptcy. Instead, 2018 will be a rebirth for the accessory maker, as it has announced it's making a return to the business and provided an outline of some of its upcoming hardware.
Now known as Mad Catz Global Limited, the company's new headquarters are located in Kowloon, Hong Kong. In a press release, it revealed that it's under new management and claims to have "new ideas" and a "new attitude." In addition to an overview of some new accessories it has on the way, it plans to further showcase them at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, which takes place next week.
"We couldn't be more excited than to begin 2018 by announcing the return of Mad Catz to the global gaming arena," said Mad Catz director of sales and operations, Selena Chang. "Mad Catz has been a permanent fixture in gaming for almost three decades and we firmly believe it's best days lie ahead. Through listening to gamers worldwide, we plan to once again forge a path of innovation in the gaming hardware community, and we're already working on delivering products which we believe will enhance gamers' abilities and do justice to the Mad Catz name. We can't wait to unveil a little more at CES 2018 and in the months to come."
Among the hardware it announced is the Rat Air wireless mouse. This includes a "wireless activation gaming surface," which is essentially a large mousepad that provides power to the mouse, meaning you never have to recharge it or change out batteries. Alternatively, you can do without the surface and simply connect the mouse to your computer with an included USB cable, which is said to be "robust."
Mad Catz also announced the Strike 4 mechanical keyboard and Freq 4 headset. The Strike 4 is equipped with an aluminum frame and RGB lighting options, while the Freq 4 headset has 40mm drivers and a metal-plated frame. Pricing and release details for all of these were not shared, but you can see images of the three devices above. We should have more information once CES arrives.
A new batch of games is now available in the Nintendo Switch Eshop. This week is a fairly light one in terms of releases; only four games launch in the digital store today, with one more arriving tomorrow, January 5.
As per usual, one of this week's releases is another ACA Neo Geo game, the arcade brawler King of the Monsters. Players take control of towering creatures and duke it out across 12 destructible cities in Japan, with the object being to pin your opponent and earn the title of the strongest monster. The game features six different monsters to choose from and supports two-player multiplayer. Like all other ACA Neo Geo games, King of the Monsters costs $8/£6.29.
ACA Neo Geo King of the Monsters
Also available on Switch this week is Stikbold: A Dodgeball Adventure Deluxe. Originally released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2016, Stikbold is a humorous, '70s-themed dodgeball game that features 18 different characters to choose from and supports up to six players simultaneously. The game also includes a campaign mode that can be played either solo or cooperatively with one friend, as well as new content exclusive to the Switch version. Stikbold runs for $16 in the US Eshop; the game is currently on sale in the UK Eshop for £14.39 until January 12.
Rounding out today's releases are the picross game Pic-a-Pix Deluxe and the isometric racing game Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing, both of which can be downloaded from the Eshop for $8 (or £7 and £7.19) respectively. They'll be followed tomorrow by Azkend 2: The World Beneath, a match-three puzzle game that features a 60-level Story mode and hidden object mini-games. You can see the full list of this week's Switch releases below.
In addition to the new releases, this week marks the beginning of a new sale in the Eshop. From now until January 14, Switch owners can find discounts on a handful of titles by developer Inti Creates, including Blaster Master Zero ($7), Mighty Gunvolt Burst ($7), and the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack ($32). You can find all the titles currently on sale in the US Eshop on Nintendo's website. Nintendo is holding a separate New Year sale in the UK that includes discounts on first-party titles like Arms, 1-2-Switch, and Flip Wars.
Paladins, a free-to-play hero shooter that has previously been compared to Overwatch, is launching a PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds-like battle royale mode. The new mode is simply called Battlegrounds, and it's coming to Paladins at some point in 2018.
Battlegrounds will spawn 100 players into a "massive map" that developer Hi-Rez says is over 300 times the size of a typical Paladins Siege map. Success in Battlegrounds will involve exploring the territory and looting its outposts for gear. Where Battlegrounds differs from PUBG, however, is that players are put into squads and must work together to be the last team standing. Check out a trailer for the new mode below.
The villainous Wilson Fisk is one of the best bad guys ever to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Vincent D'Onofrio's performance as the crimeboss was the highlight of the first season of Daredevil. In October, it was confirmed that D'Onofrio will reprise the role for Season 3 of Netflix's superhero show, and new on-set images have provided a few hints about what to expect when it returns later this year.
Daredevil Season 3 is currently in production in New York, and images have appeared on Twitter that show a crowd of anti-Fisk protestors gathered outside a hotel. Last time we saw the character--briefly in Season 2--he was still in prison, so presumably he is now a free man. Check the images out below:
Daredevil Season 3 will see Charlie Cox return in the title role, with Deborah Ann Woll back as Karen Page. It has also been rumored that Rosario Dawson is to reprise her recurring role as Claire Temple in both Daredevil and Iron Fist Season 2, which is currently shooting too.
In a recent interview with Collider, D'Onofrio spoke about playing Fisk."I love the idea that I get to play him," he said. "I wanted to do the right thing, and I want to keep doing it. I remember the first season and how all of the Daredevil and Fisk fans were talking about it. It's a big deal to them, and that really inspired me. It really brought my enthusiasm up, a lot."
The actor went on to talk about what fans could expect from him in Season 3. "I've shot some pretty cool scenes, so far," he said. "It's different, but it's very Fisk. It's still very emotional. The character is evolving. His whole deal is based on emotion, so we're taking him down that role further."
Although Ridley Scott returned to take control of the Alien franchise with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, for a while fans were also looking forward to a new Alien movie from director Neil Blomkamp. Blomkamp's film was going to be a direct sequel to the 1986 classic Aliens, but sadly it didn't progress past the development stage.
Now the District 9 director has tweeted about moving on from the project, as well as releasing some unseen production artwork. "I have moved on. What I meant was that I wish there was a way for fans to see some of what we had designed," he said. "It was an amazing chance to work in the world Ridley and James Cameron created. And collaborate with Sigourney [Weaver]."
Blomkamp also stated that a large amount of art was created for the "never to be made Aliens sequel," including "environments to characters to set design." The director had also previously released several pieces of concept art from it.
Just going through the volume of art created for this never to be made aliens sequel. From environments to characters to set design, we did a lot. Mostly over 2015. pic.twitter.com/nkfwHu3OF7
In related news, Scott recently said that he hopes the Alien series will continue despite the box office failure of Covenant. "There's no reason why Alien should now not be on the same level for fans as Star Trek and Star Wars," he said. "I think the next [question] as to where we go is, do we sustain the Alien [franchise] with the evolution of the beast or do we reinvent something else? I think you need to have an evolution on this famous beast, because he's the best monster ever, really."
A number of changes and additions are on the way to Smite, developer Hi-Rez Studios announced today. As part of Hi-Rez Expo 2018's opening keynote, some major updates for the MOBA have been revealed, including the game's next character and a revamped version of its Conquest map.
The new map is more than just a visual change, although that is part of it. This updated version is symmetrical, meaning your experience will be the same regardless of the side that your team calls home. Lanes and jungle paths are now identical on both sides, which lead designer AJ Walker says "balances the map and removes timing differences to each side. Overall, this creates a more consistent gameplay experience."
Art all around the map has also changed, as you can see in the images below, with monsters such as the Gold Fury getting "lore-inspired makeovers." More importantly, jungle fog makes a return, making it clearer what areas you have vision of. PC players will be able to test all of this out starting on January 17, when the map is released on the Public Test Server.
Coming before then is Smite's next character, Cerberus. He joins the existing roster of 92 gods very soon, as update 4.25 is slated for release on PC on January 9. A PS4 and Xbox One release date wasn't shared, but it should be coming soon as well. At some point in 2018, we'll also see new characters introduced from two new pantheons, Slavic and Voodoo.
In addition to Hi-Rez Expo, the Smite World Championships are now underway. PS4 owners with PS Plus can still get a bonus Smite pack with a bunch of free stuff, while those on Xbox One can pick up the Smite X Edition pack that grants a free character and skin.
EA's Star Wars Battlefront II may have launched towards the end of last year, but that hasn't stopped the original Star Wars: Battlefront II from being improved. The classic game has just received a new update on PC, over 12 years after its launch.
The patch is relatively minor: Disney says it includes things like minor bug fixes and improved lobby functionality. Steam usernames should also now be displayed correctly in-game, while ping calculations will be more accurate going forward. Check out the full patch notes, via Disney, at the bottom of this article.
Star Wars: Battlefront II received a major update back in October, when online multiplayer support was restored after it being switched off years ago. It also added cross-play support between GOG and Steam users.
EA's newer Battlefront II, meanwhile, recently received some free DLC centered around The latest Star Wars film, The Last Jedi. It added two new maps and new hero characters, among other things. As for the film itself, we thought the film had issues, but successfully developed the sequels' characters and subverted series tropes well. For more, check out our Star Wars: Last Jedi review.
Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) Patch Notes
Minor bug fixes and optimized performance, the most important fixes are:
As part of its continued effort to expand the amount of content available to non-DLC owners, Bungie has released a new Destiny 2 update on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Rather than address any bugs or exploits, this patch deals exclusively with undoing the studio's previous decision to lock those who haven't purchased Curse of Osiris out of content they had access to previously.
Bungie has shared patch notes for hotfix update 1.1.1.2, which is now available following a batch of server maintenance. It makes good on Bungie's previous announcement to expand both Iron Banner and Faction Rally, which became inaccessible to non-DLC owners after Curse of Osiris's release. The brief, complete patch notes for the new update follow at the bottom of this post, but they boil down to letting everyone access the two events.
Community manager David Dague recently teased that these changes were coming as part of this update. The most recent Faction Rally event, which would have been the first as part of the game's Season 2 that started with Curse of Osiris, was scheduled to take place in mid-December. But Destiny 2 players were outraged over the newly imposed DLC paywall, and Bungie canceled the event "to ensure all of our players can access the activity and the appropriate rewards."
A new date for the next Iron Banner or Faction Rally has not been announced, but Dague said, "Updates to the live calendar [will] come next week." Once they do return, existing Season 1 rewards from the events will still be available to all players. But new seasonal rewards, which will include armor ornaments, will be limited to those who own Curse of Osiris.
Update 1.1.1.2 is now available on all platforms. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the Warlock Super glitch in Crucible's Mayhem mode, but Bungie warned players in December that it would not be able to fix it before The Dawning event comes to an end on January 9.
Destiny 2 Update 1.1.1.2 Patch Notes
Iron Banner
Players who do not own Curse of Osiris may once again access Iron Banner when available
Faction Rallies
Players who do not own Curse of Osiris may once again pledge to Factions during Faction Rally events
In Nexon's latest earnings report, the company discussed how LawBreakers came up short commercially and suggested that PUBG had something to do with it. "Our results in North America in the third quarter were below our outlook, mainly due to the sales from LawBreakers being below our expectations," Nexon said in its report, which was spotted and reported on by PCGamesN. "LawBreakers is a unique FPS developed for core users. We had very high expectations for its launch."
LawBreakers was released in July on PS4 and PC, which was not long after PUBG hit the scene on Early Access. Regarding LawBreakers' release window, Nexon said, "The timing of its launch turned out to be unfortunate, specifically the blockbuster PC online game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds came out right about the same time, making the market environment very tough for first-person shooters in general and for LawBreakers."
Perhaps more notably, Nexon CFO Shiro Uemura said in the earnings report that "we will not be accruing any other impairment loss pertaining to LawBreakers in the future." As explained by PCGamesN, an "impairment loss" is when the decrease in an asset's value is greater than the money it should be making in the future. In essence, it sounds like Nexon is taking its loss on LawBreakers and moving on. We don't know how much Nexon might have lost on LawBreakers, but the company said its impairment loss made up "the majority" of its expenses during the quarter, which totalled $32.6 million.
Erick and Mike go old school and try the Diablo style dungeon set in Diablo III with the Darkening of Tristram yearly event.
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