Category: Video Games

Video: Nintendo Treehouse Plays Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition

Out this month!

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition will be arriving later this month on the Switch, and ahead of its launch Nintendo Treehouse has released a 30-minute video showing off the different games, challenges, and modes.

This is perhaps the most detailed look at the game yet, so if you’re still not sure whether you would be interested in this upcoming release, this should help you out. Be sure to also check our Nintendo Life hands on. In short, we think this has the potential to become a staple of game night:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Xbox Live Suffers Widespread Outage, Xbox Support ‘Investigating’

Xbox Live is currently down, affecting thousands of gaming fans.

Players who attempted to log into their accounts this afternoon found they were unable to sign in and play games as usual. Microsoft describes the incident as a “major outage” on its official Xbox Live status page. The company says troubles with its service began just after 2 p.m. ET, with the website Downdetector reporting a peak of more than 38,000 individual outage reports around 3 p.m. ET.

Though a select few have shared that they’ve been able to eventually sign into Xbox Live, Microsoft says the sign-in issues affect Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 consoles as well as mobile devices, web services, cloud gaming, backward compatibility, and Xbox on Windows. No explanation for the outage has been shared, but in the meantime, Microsoft said in an X/Twitter post that it is investigating the issue while directing concerned players to head to its status page for updates.

“You may not be able to sign-in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signed in, or have other related problems,” the status page says at the time of this story’s publication. “Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won’t be available.”

A widespread Xbox Live outage means there are thousands of gamers with questions and time on their hands. Many have them quickly took to social media to share memes while looking for answers. Although they’re all in the same boat as they wait for Microsoft to chime in with good news, many are just happy to see they aren’t the only ones faced with gaming downtime.

We’ll update this story when Microsoft has an update on the status of Xbox Live. In the meantime, you can check out the recently confirmed Xbox Game Pass lineup for July 2024. You can also see our IGN Live interview with CEO Phil Spencer, where we learned more about the company’s plans for the future.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Save Over 20% Off Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers

Official Nintendo Switch Joy Cons are still generally priced at full price, but there are two colorways that are availble for over 20% off today. Amazon has both the Nintendo Joy-Cons Neon Red/Blue and Neon Pink/Green for about $62-$63 each. They retail for $79.99. These are still all-around the best controllers you can get for your Nintendo Switch console.

Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers (Pair) from $62

These are official first-party Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers. Two Joy-Cons can be used separately in each hand or combined with the Joy-Con grip that came with your Switch console. You can even use them as two separate controllers in supported games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. They have a lot of fun features like a built-in accelerometer, gyro sensor, independent motion controls,. HD rumble, and NFC touchpoint for amiibo compatibility. Most 3rd party controllers don’t support amiibos at all.

We rarely see Joy-Cons on sale. When they’re discounted on Amazon, they go back up in stock quickly as well. If you need an extra pair of Joy-Cons and you like these colorways, then jump on these now. We doubt that they’ll drop in price on Amazon Prime Day (they haven’t in the past).

Other Nintendo Switch related sales and news that might interest you:

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Reveals a Host of Customizable Difficulty Options, Including the Ability to Turn Death Off Entirely

Dragon Age: The Veilguard will have a number of difficulty options that allow players to tweak the experience to their liking.

Developer BioWare revealed more about the latest installment in its fantasy franchise as part of this month’s Game Informer cover story. Features like the hundreds of character customization sliders and pronoun options separate from your character’s gender live up to game director Corinne Busche’s promise that Dragon Age: The Veilguard was created with inclusivity in mind. This desire was carried over into the difficulty options too, which include standard choices like the story-focused Storyteller path, a balanced Adventurer mode, or the more crushing Nightmare mode, which can’t be changed once a playthrough is started.

Where BioWare’s latest gets interesting in this regard is its Unbound difficulty mode. This option is said to allow players to tailor their Dragon Age: The Veilguard adventure as they please with a variety of tweakable settings. Some highlights include the ability to adjust how wayfinding guides the experience, aim assistance, an auto-aim option, and wider (or narrower) parry windows. Enemy and player damage can also be finetuned, as can enemy pressure, but the real game-changer might be the option to turn off death for your character entirely. These are all options meant to make Dragon Age: The Veilguard more inviting for every kind of gaming fan.

“[None of these options] are a cheat,” Busche explained. “It’s an option to make sure players of all abilities can show up.”

Game Informer was unable to view every difficulty and accessibility setting BioWare will offer, but Busche says players can expect to find more options upon launch. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is currently set to come to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S sometime this fall. For more, you can read up on why former executive producer Mark Darrah thinks the next Dragon Age game will be the first in the franchise with fun combat. You can also check out how decisions from past entries can be carried over and how players can romance any companion your heart desires.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.

Review: Tsukihime -A Piece Of Blue Glass Moon- (Switch) – A Delightfully Dark Revival For A VN Classic

Blood-meltingly beautiful.

Tsukihime is responsible for a lot of things. Back in 2000, Type-Moon’s classic visual novel captivated audiences with a story crammed full of occult mystery, thrilling action, and heart-pounding character drama. Like jagged lines splintering out of a unified core, its success spread out in many different directions: adaptations across manga and anime, the production of a number of sequel VNs, the birth of Type-Moon’s mega-popular Fate franchise, and, of course, the creation of its very own fighting game series Melty Blood. It’s no stretch to say that Tsukihime is a cornerstone of the industry, which is exactly why the title’s fade into relative obscurity is such a surprise.

For all the waves it made in the time during and after its release, Tsukihime has never been graced with an official Western localization. Moreover, the original Japanese release has long since become abandonware, with the task of preserving the game online falling to diehard fans. Suffice to say, it’s not the fate that a game many champion as one of the best in its genre deserves. Fortunately, Type-Moon has seen fit to rectify that problem by way of a full-on remake project.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Eagle-Eyed GTA Fan Spots a Single Piece of Jewelry From the GTA 6 Trailer in the New GTA Online Update

It feels like an age since Rockstar broke the internet by releasing the debut trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6. Since the December 2023 release of GTA 6 Trailer 1, as it’s called, information-hungry fans have analyzed the trailer to within an inch of its life, coming up with all sorts of outlandish theories and predictions about what to expect when Rockstar finally releases the game next year.

Now, though, they have something tangible to work with, something more than speculation to chew on: a necklace.

As redditor DogWifDreads signaled, the latest GTA Online update, Bottom Dollar Bounties, appears to have added the necklace worn by perhaps the standout character from the GTA 6 trailer: the woman in the bikini. Comparing a screenshot of the character from the trailer to the silver layered necklace now available to buy in GTA Online, DogWifDreads sent the GTA community on high alert.

“Dunno if anyone else has caught this but I was rewatching a trailer breakdown and I noticed that the necklaces seen here in the trailer have been added in GTAO with the Bottom Dollar Bounties DLC,” DogWifDreads said.

There’s nothing new to be gleaned from this apparent crossover, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to find some meaning in it. “Could be a stretch but whatever the price of that necklace is might mean something,” suggested Affectionate-Wing771. “Considering all last digits are 0, we could skip that and we’ll have four digits, a possible date and month – for something,” OtteLoc wondered, in full GTA theory meme mode. “Or it could just be another generic price like the rest of the items.”

Most people are taking this as what it probably is: a fun nod to GTA 6 in GTA Online. But that kind of sensible behavior is no fun at all though, is it? I suppose it does bring to mind the tough questions Rockstar faces in dealing with the current GTA Online with the GTA 6 version waiting in the wings. GTA Online is a part of GTA 5, but how will GTA 6’s version of GTA Online be made available? Will it be sold standalone? Free-to-download? A part of GTA 6 at a $70+ price point? And what happens to GTA 5’s GTA Online when GTA 6 comes out? Will Rockstar effectively replace it with the new version, as Blizzard did to Overwatch when it released Overwatch 2?

The first official GTA 6 trailer is the most-viewed video game reveal on YouTube within 24 hours. Set in modern-day Leonida, a fictionalized version of Florida, GTA 6 will let players control Lucia and an unnamed male that some fans speculate is named Jason.

Questions have swirled around GTA 6’s release date ever since the initial reveal, with fans going feral over details like website updates. Internal conflicts over Rockstar’s return to office policy has led to questions over whether GTA 6 will ultimately be delayed into 2026. However, as of right now, it looks like Take-Two and Rockstar are determined to get GTA 6 out the door during its intended release window of fall 2025.

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.

Transformers Is Getting a Racing Adventure Game With Rogue-Lite Elements

Transformers is getting a racing adventure rogue-lite called Transformers: Galactic Trials, due out in October on PC and consoles. It’s the first ever console Transformers racing game.

Transformers: Galactic Trials is published by Outright Games, which specializes in video games for kids, and developed by 3DClouds. Outright said that in this new unique hybrid gameplay experience you can play as iconic Autobot and Decepticon characters across a single-player mode, with two-player co-op in local multiplayer for the Arcade mode.

Here’s the official blurb:

After the evil NEMESIS PRIME steals the Prime Relics, the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS must set out on a rip-roaring adventure to recover these artifacts and control the incredible powers they bestow. Fans can play as iconic AUTOBOTS or DECEPTICONS, including Bumblebee, Megatron, Elita-1 and Optimus Prime and race across battle-race circuits to collect relics and beat opponents. The gameplay incorporates both traditional arcade racing in vehicle form and dynamic combat in bot-form, as players must defeat enemies and make it to the finish line.

As players progress and collect new relics, they level up their skills and unlock new playable characters and skins. The single-player mode, called Galactic Trials, lets you progress through levels and collect relics. The two-player Arcade mode lets you enter a quick race, creating a custom racing experience with your track, character and weapons, or enter location-based specialized tournaments.

Transformers: Galactic Trials launches on October 11, 2024, on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S.

It’s a busy time for Transformers, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. CG-animated film Transformers One comes out in September, and there’s a live-action Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie in the works.

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.