It’s coming to Japan this October.
The Switch Joy-Con are quite easy to charge, but the catch is you have to attach them to the system. With this in mind, Nintendo is finally giving users an alternative way to charge these controllers with the official Switch Joy-Con Charging Stand.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Hello everyone, I’m Kee Zhang from Hotta Studio. I’m incredibly excited to introduce our brand new title, Neverness to Everness, to PlayStation players today!
Neverness to Everness (NTE for short) is a supernatural urban open-world game set to release for free on PS5. You will step into the shoes of an Appraiser, embarking on an extraordinary supernatural adventure in the bustling metropolis of Hethereau.
Let’s dive into what makes this game unique.
You’ve probably played many city-based games, but Neverness to Everness offers a Hethereau that is both familiar and bizarre, yet convincingly real. In this open world, every moment is an adventure as you explore and live in this unique city.
In Hethereau, you’ll encounter TV-headed otters, skateboarders creating graffiti on the street at midnight, and countless supernatural phenomena we call Anomalies. The origins of these anomalies are varied and remain unexplained. Encountering an anomaly in Hethereau is as common as breathing—hopefully, your first encounter won’t scare you.
Hethereau is also a living city.
Operational shops and businesses: A complete business management system lets you purchase vehicles and property to enhance your city life.
Dynamic NPCs: The streets are filled with realistic pedestrians who have destinations and genuine actions. Most NPCs follow traffic rules, but if you disrupt the order, expect different reactions from them.
Authentic vehicles: You can modify and drive them, wreak havoc on the roads, or participate in races.
A great open-world game needs a compelling story, and Neverness to Everness revolves around these anomalies.
As the protagonist, you’ll debut in this anomaly-filled city as an appraiser at the antique shop “Eibon”, beginning an extraordinary daily life by nullifying and containing various anomalies.
Seeing anomalies in the city is like hearing a discordant note in a symphony—they stand out and offer rich, explorative content. We tell the story through episodic narratives with a light comedic touch, aiming to deliver vivid, nuanced storytelling and distinct character portrayals. Our goal is to spark players’ curiosity, maintain immersion, and drive a continuous desire for exploration.
While exploring this urban open world, you’ll meet companions with various supernatural abilities to help you solve upcoming events. These abilities, known as Espers, are awakened powers in ordinary humans—some can utilize anti-gravity to climb high-rise buildings, unlocking new urban perspectives, while others can destroy environments, enhancing immersive realism.
These abilities also shine in combat, creating “Esper Reactions” that are easy to master and make battles more exciting. With great Esper comes great responsibility—the safety of Hethereau relies on you and your companions.
Hethereau combines cutting-edge technology with the latest trends. To achieve our desired effects and make the city scenes more realistic, we used Unreal Engine 5 to construct the city’s framework and leveraged Nanite virtualized geometry technology to significantly enhance scene realism. We will also continue optimizing for the PlayStation platform to ensure an exceptional player experience.
Neverness to Everness has been in development for a while, and Hethereau has been built from scratch. This city will continue to grow, with more residents and features added over time.
Thank you to every player who has followed our journey, stay tuned for more news about Neverness to Everness.
For those who spent their youth in the captive grip of arcade games, the name Metal Slug needs no introduction. The action-filled side scroller was a mainstay in arcades across the globe, and it’s making a comeback with Metal Slug: Awakening, now accessible on PC and mobile.
Unfamiliar with the franchise? It all started in 1996, when Metal Slug first appeared as an arcade machine. Almost every laundry shop or pizza joint had a Metal Slug machine. For just 25 cents, you could enjoy top-tier fun. There’s something nostalgic about that wild yet joyful arcade era of the ’90s, when you’d get so hooked on a game that you’d forget what time you were supposed to go back home.
The story of Metal Slug was set in a dystopian 2028. You took on the role of a soldier, fighting a coup that threatened to shatter the peace and impose a new world order. You bombarded enemies with relentless gunfire and melee attacks, all the way to the boss showdowns in each level.
On the way through each level, you could find prisoners of war who would give you rewards when you freed them. You always started with a simple handgun, but as you progressed through levels, you picked up special weapons — like machine guns, rocket launchers, and shotguns. You could also jump in tanks called Metal Slugs (the series’ namesake, of course). As the series progressed, it added more heroes and more special weapons.
Awakening is built on the same foundation as its predecessors. It still features side-scrolling action, special weapons, and Slugs. Even the iconic “mission start” and “mission complete” announcements from the original game are still present. But it’s not all old-school — graphical updates breathe new life into characters, weapons, and vehicles; fresh characters with unique abilities debut; and innovative features and game modes offer a refreshing twist to the gameplay.
Speaking of characters, that’s an area where Metal Slug: Awakening has expanded. While previous games had a maximum of six characters, Awakening has more than 20 — with more still on the way. You can unlock characters in the Treasure Dig mode, and each character has unique skills and an ultimate ability that can range from slowing down time to summoning a battleship.
Awakening introduces a mix of classic weapon types as well as unique, new-to-the-series armaments like sniper rifles, saw launchers, and a boxing gun (a literal firearm with a spring-loaded punching glove attachment). Additionally, all weapons come in different varieties, some of which can apply distinct status effects, such as freezing or burning enemies.
Joint Operation is another one of the major innovations in Metal Slug: Awakening. In contrast to traditional arcade games where you might face bosses alone, you can now join forces with two additional players for those epic showdowns. You can do this by getting together with your friends or teaming up with strangers the game pairs you with. You’ll each choose your own character and pack your most potent weapons before hitting the battlefield to claim victory.
Looking for a change of pace? You can dive into the PvP mode for a different experience. Face off against real players, controlling three characters and switching them in and out to demonstrate your unique combat style. With three characters and three weapons at your disposal, the combinations you can come up with offer countless possibilities.
Now, time for play! Metal Slug: Awakening is available to download for free right now on PC, iOS, and Android, and you can play it with a controller. Your progress is linked to an account that can be used across all platforms, so you’ll never have to start over from scratch. Enjoy your time revisiting a classic series.
Amazon’s major annual sale, Prime Day, is running right now. That means you can save a ton of cash on all sorts of items, ranging from furniture to Fritos. Among the deals are a whole lot of discounts on all things Xbox. We’re talking a great deal on a refurbished Xbox Series X, as well as great sales on controllers and games.
Xbox is in a somewhat weird spot lately. While Microsoft owns heavy-hitting game publishers like Bethesda and Activision (the maker of Call of Duty!) its hardware is trailing far behind both PS5 and Nintendo Switch (to say nothing of the Switch successor). But Microsoft isn’t resting on its laurels. It’s making big moves, like letting people play Xbox without an Xbox. And more and more of its attention seems to be on Xbox Game Pass going forward. Still, these deals are worth taking a look at.
It’s not brand-new, but it’s close, and it costs way less than a new Xbox Series X typically does. Amazon has “renewed” Xbox consoles (refurbished, but in “excellent” condition) on sale for $369.99. That’s $130 less than they cost new. And despite Xbox Series X|S sales lagging behind PS5, I actually prefer my Series X over my PS5 for cross-platform games. Trust me, the “quick resume” feature is a game changer.
If you’d prefer a deal on a brand-new Xbox, Amazon has nothing for you – but Best Buy does. You can get a new Xbox Series X, plus a $50 Best Buy gift card, all for $50 less than the typical MSRP of the Xbox alone. That’s a pretty great deal – and you don’t even need a Prime membership to take advantage of it.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate just got a price hike – at least it did if you buy it directly from Microsoft. Thankfully Amazon hasn’t gotten the memo yet, and is still charging $49.99 for a three-month membership. But if you’re a Prime member, you can get a free $7.50 credit to your Amazon account if you buy during Prime Day. Just do it.
It’s no secret that modern AAA video games take up a whole lot of storage space. They take up so much that you’ve probably already reached the limit of your Xbox Series X|S’s onboard storage. Expanding that storage is easy, but it’s usually absurdly expensive, thanks to Microsoft’s proprietary format. This all-time low price on the WD Black C50 is the best you’re likely to get anytime soon, so stock up. If you prefer the Seagate one, it’s on sale too, but for $5 more.
Ready to add player two? Pick up a wireless Xbox controller, on sale for as low as $39.99. Various colors are also discounted, so pick your favorite and run with it. The Core Controller, which we consider the best Xbox controller, period, also works on PC, Mac, iOS devices, and more, so it’s quite versatile.
External hard drives aren’t quite as useful as the expansion cards above, but they’re way cheaper. This 2TB Seagate Game Drive was designed for Xbox, and it holds a boatload of games. The only drawback is that you can’t play games that are optimized for Series X|S from the drive. But you play non-optimized games (Xbox One games, for instance) from it, and you can download optimized games to it for storage and quick transfer to internal storage when you want to play them.
Frankly, there aren’t as many Prime Day Xbox game deals as I would have expected. The above games are all that appear to be on sale. If more discounts go live in the future, this is where we’ll put them. Owners of Xbox’s rival consoles can also check at our lists of the best Prime Day deals for PS5 games and Switch games.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Threads.
If you’re a fan of college football, chances are you’re excited for Friday. For the first time in over a decade, a new college football video game is coming out. EA Sports College Football 25 will feature all 134 FBS teams with player names featured for the first time ever. If you’ve yet to pre-order the big game, Best Buy has one of the onl deals available right now.
You can score a free $5 Best Buy gift card when you pre-order either the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X version of College Football 25. This is perfect to use on your next game, a new controller, or even digital currency that you can use in College Football 25. Be sure to take advantage of this offer while it’s available, as Best Buy only has this promo available for pre-orders. This offer will expire on Friday with the game’s release.
EA Sports College Football 25 is the first college football game from EA since NCAA 14 in 2013. EA was ordered to stop creating college football games after a lawsuit between the company and former college football players arose over name, image, and likeness (NIL). This prevented any new games until 2021, when the NCAA created rules to compensate players based on NIL. Three years later, College Football 25 is here, with player names available in game for the very first time.
Many of the older modes have returned to College Football 25, including Dynasty, Team Builder, and Road to Glory. Of course, dozens of new features have been added, including Stadium Pulse, which creates challenging road environments in college football’s biggest stadiums. Over 10,000 athletes have opted into the NIL program for the game, with roster updates periodically planned as more players transfer or opt into the game.
While this Best Buy deal is great for console owners, Amazon has an ongoing promotion where you can save $30 off a new PlayStation 5 by purchasing the College Football 25 game. Simply add both to your cart from this link and you can save on a new console!
Looking for more deals? Be sure to take a look at our picks from Prime Day and the best deals from Best Buy’s Black Friday in July sale.
During Prime Day 2024, the best Switch Lite deal isn’t on Amazon. Walmart is offering the Nintendo Switch Lite (Timmy’s and Tommy’s Aloha Edition) console for only $159. It normally retails for $199, which was already a great deal because it included the full Animal Crossing: New Horizons game. This special edition Switch Lite was originally part of Walmart’s larger sale that competed with Amazon Prime Day. That sale has now ended, but this deal is one of few that are still available, and we’re pretty certain Amazon won’t match it.
The Switch Lite retails for $100 less than the original Switch and $150 less than the Switch OLED. It is compatible with most Nintendo Switch games and it runs off the same hardware, so performance is identical. The three main tradeoffs of the Switch Lite is that (1) the controllers are not detachable, (2) the console can’t be docked and played on a TV and (3) the display is smaller (5.5″ vs 6.2″ on Switch and 7″ on Switch OLED).
If you were intending to use the Switch solely as a handheld console, you might be better off just getting the Switch Lite. Even though the controls aren’t detachable, the Switch Lite does support wireless Bluetooth, so you can always purchase another pair of Joy-Cons, a Switch Pro controller, or a compatible third party wireless Switch controller, and you can still play untethered.
If you enjoy cozy games like Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, or Minecraft, you’ll probably love Animal Crossing. It’s obvious that Nintendo put in a lot of love into this first party title and it’s certainly one of the best – and most relaxing – games for the Nintendo Switch. This is an excellent pick for gamers of all ages, even children. Check out our glowing IGN review for more details.
Other Nintendo Switch related sales and news that might interest you:
Remixing the Remix.
And just like that, Nintendo’s next major release of 2024 is right around the corner. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition lands on Switch on 18th July (that’s tomorrow!) and the reviews are here to give us an idea of what to expect.
Before we dive into the round-up, let’s first provide a brief refresher of what we had to say about this one. We scored Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition a ‘Good’ 7/10 in our review. While we were left “fully entertained” by its bite-sized speedrunning challenges and whistle-stop tour of Nintendo’s history, we couldn’t help but see it as “a downgrade in many ways to NES Remix“. Check out our full thoughts below:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
In our previous Wire post we shared some insights on the origin of the story and the player character of our game CLeM. Now we’d like to share some ideas that influenced the design of one of the most important characters in the game: the house.
Here at Mango Protocol we pride ourselves in the ability to look at the real world and extract wonder, mystery and fun from our sometimes worn and mundane surroundings. Thus, we’ve been turning our gaze to the things around us and injecting tons of these concepts into our games since the inception of the studio.
When developing CLeM, we all agreed that we had to find the perfect environment for our game with escape room vibes to take place in. Luckily, we had access to Torre Elias, which, besides being a hauntingly beautiful 19th century traditional Catalan house, is Mariona’s ancestral home! You would not reject having total access to a protected architectural heritage building, right? Well, neither did we.
Here’s the main street facade, the one that you can see when walking around CLeM’s house garden.
The house has been inhabited since it was built. Every generation has managed to leave their mark by adapting or rebuilding parts of the house to keep it up to modern living standards. That really helped us to bring that “empty but not really abandoned” look to CLeM’s house. We wanted you to explore the different rooms and halls and have that feeling of a place that, not so long ago, was full of life and provided a nice home for a family.
Torre Elias kitchen is a nice example of furniture that looks old for today’s standards but is definitely modern in contrast to how an 1800s kitchen might have been.
In that previous picture you can see how Mariona adapted that mix of old and older furniture to the game.
Of course, when you inherit an ancient architectural jewel of a home, you may introduce some changes to make it liveable, but there’s some things that pass the test of time with flying colors and you want to keep at home at all costs. A couple examples of this are, on one side, the marvelous hydraulic tiles and wall paintings resembling wallpaper, both beautiful staples of Catalan Modernism which Mariona managed to translate perfectly into the game’s style.
And, on the other side, there’s the small items, those that bring the personal taste of each inhabitant to the house. Look at these forged iron wall lamps that ended up lighting an in-game corridor along with these pattern wall decorations and even more hydraulic tiling. Turns out these low light corridors and tones were a perfect fit for the mood we wanted for the least modernized rooms in CLeM’s house.
Speaking of small items, Mariona picked some decorative and artistic objects to fill the house with flair and personality. Some of them I managed to incorporate into puzzles, letting you connect at some level with the characters that lived in that house and coexisted with these particular items. This Bristol glass jar will surely catch your eye in the first stages of CLeM. It is one of these objects that helps bringing a cohesive environment and at the same time end up being relevant to the development of the gameplay.
Finally, I’d like to stress the importance of the works of art that you’ll be able to find around the house. Mariona made the effort of filling CLeM’s house walls with some iconic female artists’ works. These pictures also helped to inspire some of the puzzles.
Have a tour around the house and enjoy homages of paintings like Vanessa Bell’s “The Pond at Charleston”, Tamara de Lempicka’s “Plante grasse et fiole” or “Pianist” by cubist artist Maria Blanchard, which inspired part of a musical puzzle in the game.
I hope you enjoyed this walkthrough along the real-world influences that helped build our beloved house. You can explore it right now, as CLeM, our acclaimed puzzle adventure with escape room vibes and a dark story to unveil, is out now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
Mango Protocol
EXPERIENCE A DARK ADVENTURE FULL OF MYSTERY
You awaken in a cold, dimly lit room, your senses slowly adjusting to the surroundings that, oddly, feel familiar. A strange sensation lingers in you, reminding you that something is not quite right. As you find your bearings, your attention is drawn to a peculiar item on the ground. A notebook labeled “CLeM” lies before you. As you delve into its pages, covered with intricate sketches of insects accompanied by vague symbols, you find a note containing a cryptic message: “Bring me BEAUTY.” Lost in deciphering the contents, a voice interrupts your focus.
SOLVE PUZZLES AND FIND YOUR WAY
Puzzles intertwine with exploration, weaving a unique narrative experience we call “puzzlevania” with a shadowy story to unravel and countless challenges to overcome.
CRAFT ENCHANTED TOYS AND UNCOVER SECRETS
Craft magic toys to unveil hidden secrets, access unreachable spots, and reclaim items from the past as you uncover new revelations in familiar spaces.
DISCOVER A CUTE AND DARK WORLD
Investigate a seemingly desolate house accompanied only by an obscure voice and a notebook full of annotations and drawings on alchemy, insects, and other creepy crawlies.
EMBRACE YOUR DESTINY
Choose your fate in this dark story of manipulation, pride, forgiveness, and redemption.
The post CLeM Backstage Stories: From a 19th Century House to a Puzzlevania Environment appeared first on Xbox Wire.
EA Sports has apologized to Stanford University football fans after learning that it made an erroneous error in the program’s logo in College Football 25.
As reported by SFGate, Stanford University has a few errors spotted by hawk-eyed football team fans. Most notably, those who selected Stanford as their home team were greeted with an erroneous error in the logo—a red tree in the middle behind a white Capital S for its background.
As Sportslogo.net pointed out, the current logo, which went into effect in 2015, is a white tree behind a red Capital S.
The Stanford football Home Screen on EA Sports College Football 25 pic.twitter.com/N9Sy5X91on
— Inside The Stanford Cardinal (@InsideStanford) July 15, 2024
Additionally, several gameplay presentations show conflicting imagery between the current and old Stanford football logo. The correct logo is present on the helmets and the Stanford Stadium, which is printed on the center of the field. However, the scoreboard for Stanford shows the old logo where the tree was green, as shown in the image below.
Of course, EA Sports disclosed in a blog post published yesterday that “certain schools,” like Stanford, would display outdated logos. However, the Stanford Football Home Screen logo has never been an official logo for the program. Western Michigan and Jacksonville State also feature outdated logos.
“We are aware about an incorrect logo used by EA in College Football 25 within various areas of the game,” Stanford football spokesperson Brian Brownfield told SFGate in a statement sent via email. “EA has told us they will fix this during their first round of patches in approximately two weeks.”
Despite College Football 25’s worldwide release set for Friday, several players have already played the first college football video game in over ten years. Thanks to three days of early access for those willing to buy the $100 Deluxe Edition, some reported seeing over 700,000 players online during the Early Access period.
However, its initial success has also been met with some issues, most notably the servers crashing on Monday, barring anyone from playing online. Some have reported issues with trying to start a Dynasty mode, thanks to a “Lorem Ipsum” error.
College Football 25 will be released worldwide on July 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more, check out our hands-on preview.
Blogroll Credit: Icon Sportswire /Getty Images
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Prime Day is one of the best times of the year to buy video games. That is especially true for Nintendo Switch games, with titles from Nintendo and plenty of third party developers on sale for a limited time. Whether you’re a fan of RPGs, cozy games, or platformers, there are great Prime Day Switch deals available for everyone.
It’s important to remember that these deals will only be live throughout Prime Day, which lasts through the end of the day today. You must be a Prime member to access the discounts, and these deals will end once inventory has been sold through. Be sure to pick up a 30-day Amazon Prime free trial and purchase any Nintendo Switch games before the deals end.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is now on sale for the first time since it was first launched just last month. SMT V: Vengeance is an enhanced version of the former Nintendo Switch exclusive SMT V, launched in 2019. The biggest feature available in this upgraded re-release is the all new Canon of Vengeance route, which is essentially 40 hours of new story content. At $39.99, this is a steal for what will likely end up being one of the most popular RPGs on Switch in 2024.
Sonic Superstars for Nintendo Switch is on sale for $24.99 this Prime Day. This game is the latest 2D Sonic title, with loads of new environments and enemies to discover. New abilities like multiplying and slowing time are available with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, which can aid in your quest to take down Eggman. Plus, Sonic Superstars lets you play the entire campaign in multiplayer, so you can grab this great Sonic game deal and play with friends as Knuckles, Amy, and Tails!
Unicorn Overlord is available at a new all time low of $34.99 for Prime Day. This tactical RPG has a plethora of features to discover, with over 60 unique characters to unlock and use in combat. The game was developed by Vanillaware, who is best known for titles like Dragon’s Crown and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. If you’re a fan of Fire Emblem, you owe it to yourself to check out this RPG for Switch, especially at this price.
Super Mario RPG was initially released in 1996 for the SNES, and over two decades later, a remake has been released for Nintendo Switch. Super Mario RPG for Switch is an excellent game, even being a great entry point into the world of RPGs. As one of the wackiest Mario games on Switch, there are dozens of unique characters to discover who have never appeared outside of this title. It’s also one of the rare occasions where Mario and Bowser work together – the King of the Koopas even joins your party! On top of all that, the legendary Yoko Shimomura returned to compose the soundtrack, making for an unforgettable Mario experience that is definitely worth it at this price.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a complete remake of the first two Advance War titles from Wayforward and Nintendo. This game marks the first entry in the Advance Wars series since Advance Wars: Days of Ruin on the Nintendo DS, bringing back Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising. Some of the biggest changes available in these remakes are a re-recorded original soundtrack, online versus play, and the massive shift in art style from 2D to 3D. Overall, this collection is an excellent way to revisit one of Nintendo’s most beloved strategy titles.
Cuphead is one of the best platformers of the last decade, featuring an extremely unique art style that is based on rubber hose animation. Don’t be fooled by its charming looks, though – Cuphead can be absolutely brutal with dozens of challenging bosses. The Nintendo Switch version of the game is excellent with 60FPS support, fitting right at home as a platformer on the console.
Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles is still the best Demon Slayer game out there. The flashy title features over 30 characters, with the story covered through the Entertainment District Arc. You can dive head first into Adventure Mode and relive the major story moments of the hit manga, or you can choose to battle it out against others in Versus Mode. Explore unique matchups that were never before possible, like Rui vs. Tengen. Let your creativity run wild!
Per IGN’s 9/10 review, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of the best games available on the Nintendo Switch, period. As the console’s first new 2D Mario title, over 150 different levels are available in this co-op game, with plenty of secrets and challenges to uncover as you play through the story. One of the new features of Wonder is the Badge system, which allows you to grant characters unique abilities to use throughout levels. At $50, this is a Mario game deal you shouldn’t pass up this Prime Day.
Amazon isn’t the only vendor with deals over July 16 and 17. Best Buy is also having their “Black Friday in July” sale, which includes some of the best discounts on Switch games. Yeah, $20 off may not seem too crazy, but for first-party Nintendo titles like Pokemon Legends: Arceus, we rarely see better prices. Even better, the discount applies to both physical and digital versions of each game.
We’ll keep adding any more Nintendo Switch games we find on sale to this list.
The Nintendo eShop pretty much always has digital versions of Switch games on sale, which you can find in the “Great Deals” section of the app on your Switch. While you can’t really predict what games you’ll find on sale when, you may be able to find a new third-party gem. If you’re looking for physical Switch games, whether to manage your console’s storage or to add to your collection, you should check out big shopping events like Prime Day or Black Friday.
One of the best Switch deals is grabbing a special edition Nintendo Switch, like the Animal Crossing Switch Lite, which includes a free Nintendo game. That said, it may be worth waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 if you’re looking for a console upgrade.
Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.
