Author: Game Infliction

Nintendo Adding Wario Land 4 to Nintendo Switch Online Library

Nintendo is adding beloved Game Boy Advance title Wario Land 4 to the Nintendo Switch Online library on February 14.

Revealed with a trailer, below, the game will be available at no extra cost to users who have a Nintendo Switch Online membership and have purchased the Expansion Pass.

“The misguided Wario is back, and this time he’s in search of riches,” reads the synopsis. “Ignoring all warning signs, Wario decides to enter a cursed pyramid that’s rumored to house a bunch of gold and jewels. Our anti-hero quickly learns that the curse is now a joke, realizing that he’ll be lucky to escape alive.

“There are 20 massive stages to conquer in this adventure, and you can use all of the gold and treasure you find to purchase bonus items after each stage. You can even take a breather and play any of the title’s delightful mini games.”

The game was very well received upon its release in 2001, earning a 9/10 in IGN’s review. “There’s a lot of variety in the game design and it’s more challenging than the usual side-scrolling fare due to its focus on making players figure out how to get to certain locations in the level,” we said.

Wario Land 4 is the 24th Game Boy Advance game added to the library, joining the likes of Mario Kart: Super Circuit, The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater release date leaked, alongside a trailer showing off the baddies

“Kept you waiting, huh?” says Snake. Uh, no, not really. You’re actually a bit early this time, mate. The release date for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was spotted this week, hiding in the long grass of the PlayStation Store. The fancy-schmancy MGS3 remake is coming out in August, according to the store page. And you can also catch sight of a camouflaged trailer if you go looking under the right rocks.

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Nintendo’s Latest Patent Hints At Joy-Con Mouse Support For OG Switch

Plus, another mysterious controller is included.

A new patent from Nintendo was recently made public which seems to confirm that, yes, the upcoming Switch 2 will indeed feature mouse support. Phew.

However, upon digging into the patent a bit more, we discovered a couple of additional nuggets that might be of some interest. Namely, it appears that Nintendo has showcased what looks to be a Joy-Con for the original Switch with the additional optical sensor on the side (alongside that extra ‘C’ button below the Home button, by the way – don’t ask us why it’s missing on the left image below).

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Smite 2 studio lays off workers and drops all other games to focus on the unfinished MOBA

Hi-Rez Studios have laid off an unknown number of the studio’s employees, only one month after launching MOBA sequel Smite 2 as a free-to-play beta. It looks like management has cut at least 20-30 jobs and the full number is likely higher. As a result, three other games that have been long-running staples of the studio will no longer get any updates. Smite, Paladins, and Rogue Company will have nobody to man the code cannons, so they’re being left to gather cobwebs from now on. Although they will remain playable.

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Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Shared By Super Smash Bros. Creator and Fans Are Going Wild Over a New Game

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has re-posted the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct date and time announcement with a single sound of excitement and fans are freaking out about it teasing a new entry in the beloved brawler series.

As reported by Automaton, Sakurai shared the Japanese version of Nintendo’s announcement that it will fully unveil the Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2. “Ooh!” he said in the post, and while this could just be his own excitement, fans are hoping it means a new Super Smash Bros. game is coming to the next-generation hardware.

While the post doesn’t mean too much by itself, there has been a stream of small hints and teases that could signify Sakurai is gearing up for another Super Smash Bros. game reveal. The famed developer began his own YouTube channel in 2022 but wound it down after promising he wasn’t done making games, and his final video revealed he’d been working on a new game that could be revealed “sooner or later.”

Nothing has been announced regarding a new Super Smash Bros. game, however, and Sakurai said previously he doesn’t know how the franchise can get any bigger or better than the Switch entry, which even includes characters from beyond Nintendo like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Joker from Persona 5, Steve and Alex from Minecraft, and many more.

But it seems likely there will be a new Super Smash Bros. game for Switch 2, given the incredible sales success of Ultimate (35.88 million and counting). And it’s worth remembering Nintendo has released a new Super Smash Bros. game for each of its consoles ever since the launch of the original Super Smash Bros. for N64 in 1999.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Proverbs review

What great hopes I had for the Christmas holidays. Finally, I thought, I would have time for some of the recent blockbusters I’d not yet played: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and more would fill those dusty days and nights in the taint of 2024.

Then I mentioned in a review that I liked Picross games, which for me can dissolve hours or entire weekends like sugar in water. “I don’t know if that means I should recommend Mark Ffrench’s games Proverbs and Mega Mosaic to you, or warn you to steer clear and avoid flowing away forever,” responded commenter SeekerX.

You see where this is going. Friends, I played Proverbs for 36 hours over Christmas.

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Take-Two Boss Says ‘Legacy’ Civilization Audience Will Eventually Come Around on Civilization 7 Amid ‘Mixed’ Steam User Reviews

Civilization 7 is out, and while the game has launched to a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, the boss of parent company Take-Two believes hardcore fans of the series will eventually come to love it.

Firaxis’ 4X strategy sequel is currently available to those who pay more for advanced access, typically more hardcore fans of Civilization. And they’re certainly letting their voices be known in Steam user reviews, highlighting issues with the user interface, a lack of map variety, and a feeling that the game has launched without a number of features fans have come to expect.

Firaxis has responded to this feedback, promising improvements to the UI, the addition of teams to multiplayer games so people can play co-operatively, and a wider variety of map types, among other things.

In an interview with IGN ahead of the release of third quarter financial results, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization 7 had received some negative reviews from press and players, namechecking Eurogamer’s 2/5 review, but insisted that the “legacy Civ audience” will come around the more they play, and called Civilization 7’s early performance “very encouraging.”

“The Metacritic reviews are at 81, which is really solid,” Zelnick said. “We have more than 20 press reviews with a score over 90. We have some negative outliers as well, including a 40 from Eurogamer.

“We think that as people play the game longer, the sentiment improves because with every launch of a new Civ, the team pushes the envelope a little bit and our legacy Civ audience is a little bit nervous about what they initially see and then they realize, wow, this is actually really incredible, and they dive in.

“So we feel really, really good about it. We know we have a couple of issues. We have a bit of an issue with the UI, for example. We’ll address that. So I wouldn’t say the early access release is perfect in every way. I think it’s very, very encouraging and I think the areas that are concerning are areas that we can and will address, and as you can tell, we’re quite mindful of them.”

Zelnick’s mention of hardcore Civ players being a little nervous about Civ 7 at launch is no-doubt a reference to some of the dramatic changes Firaxis has made to the game.

A full campaign in Civilization 7 is one that goes through all three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Once the Age is completed, all players (and any AI opponents) experience an Age Transition simultaneously. During an Age Transition, three things happen: you select a new civilization from the new Age to represent your empire, you choose which Legacies you want to retain in the new Age, and the game world evolves. The Civilization games have never had such a system. Clearly, Zelnick believes Civ fans will come to love it over time.

In the shorter term, Firaxis has work to do turning sentiment around, particularly on Steam. A game’s Steam user review rating is crucial for its success on Valve’s platform. Not only is it a very public indication of what a player base thinks of a game, but it affects visibility on Steam itself.

Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Sega’s Next Football Manager Game Has Been Cancelled

“We’re very sorry to have let you down”.

Sega and Sports Interactive have officially cancelled Football Manager 25 after extensive internal discussion and careful consideration.

Sports Interactive says it’s “very sorry” to have let down fans and will now shift its focus to the next annual release. The reasoning behind this decision, although it’s not specifically mentioned, seems to be the transition to the new game engine. It was planned to be the “biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation” laying the foundations for a new era.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com