Category: Video Games

Nintendo Museum Direct Reveals Giant Wiimotes and Other Treasures Along With Prices and Opening Date

Nintendo held a Direct today, but it wasn’t a traditional presentation filled with new game announcements and release dates. Instead, the company turned to its history by giving us our first look at the completed Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, Japan, which is now scheduled to open on October 2, 2024.

The presentation was hosted by none other than Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, who walked through the main exhibits and activities museum attendees can expect at the new facility. Read on to learn everything announced at today’s Nintendo Museum Direct, including the existence of enormous Wii Remotes!

Miyamoto Introduces the Museum

The presentation began with Miyamoto sharing the history of the museum site, revealing that the Nintendo museum is built on the same grounds as Nintendo’s original playing card factory, which was then used for quality checks during the Famicom (NES) era. The entrance to the museum greets visitors with a Mario-themed plaza, complete with warp pipes, a question block, and more Super Mario Bros. items.

You Can Play Nintendo Games With Enormous Controllers

The highlight of the presentation was seeing the enormous recreations of Nintendo controllers visitors will be able to use to play a selection of classic Nintendo games from the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, and Wii eras. While we got an extended demo of Miyamoto playing Super Mario Bros. alongside a museum staff member, the star of the show was undoubtedly watching two museum staff members working together to play Wii Sports Resort using a giant Wii Remote’s motion controls. Just look at it!!

Attractions that Pull from Nintendo’s Toymaking Days

The Direct only showed off three of the eight interactive experiences, but the official Nintendo Museum website details the rest. This is the full list of unique play experiences the Nintendo Museum will offer on the first floor:

  • Shigureden SP
    • Explore Hyakunin Isshu poems using smart devices and the giant screen on the floor.
  • Zapper & Scope SP
    • Experience shooting using the Zapper and Super Scope in the world of Mario that spreads out on the giant screen in front of you.
  • Ultra Machine SP
    • A batting-cage experience inside a room. Hit the balls pitched by the Ultra Machine.
  • Ultra Hand SP
    • Use the Ultra Hand to grab the balls rolling down the lanes, and drop them into the pipes.
  • Love Tester SP
    • Two people join hands and work together on tests that measure their Love Level.
  • Game & Watch SP
    • Play Game & Watch games using your own shadow.
  • Nintendo Classics
    • Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64. Choose from over 80 games to play.
  • Big Controller
    • Controllers from past hardware generations made giant. Two people must work together to take on challenges in games released back in the day.

Visitors Can’t See Every Attraction with a Single Ticket

One odd wrinkle about the Nintendo Museum is that visitors can’t experience all eight exhibits with a single ticket. As detailed on the official website, digital coins are required to experience the interactive exhibits, and each visitor is only granted 10 coins upon entry. You can’t purchase additional coins once you run out, so as of now it seems you’ll need multiple visits to the Nintendo Museum to get your hands on everything it has to offer. We’ve reached out to Nintendo for comment and clarification on this.

A Rotunda of Nintendo Products

The second floor has a gallery of products created and published by Nintendo from NES to now. This includes games and consoles in Nintendo’s catalog, complete with different iterations of hardware and game boxes to account for differences across Japan, North America, Europe, and other regions. Each section of the exhibit is marked with a big (but not quite as huge) replica of each Nintendo controller and handheld.

There are also exhibits for products played by moving your body, the evolution of the Question Block, the evolution of graphics in games like Mario and Zelda, and an exhibit of products Nintendo made before it entered the video game business, like a copy machine and even a baby stroller.

Make Your Own Hanafuda Cards

The Nintendo Museum harkens all the way back to the beginning of the company with an interactive experience where visitors can design their own Hanafuda cards. This hour-long experience does cost extra, but participants will get to take home the four cards they made. There is also a Play Room where visitors can learn to play one of the most popular versions of Hanafuda.

Along with a museum restaurant and shop Miyamoto teased at the very end of the presentation, that’s what Nintendo fans can expect if they make the long trek to the Nintendo museum in Kyoto. Tickets will cost 3,300 yen (~$23 USD) for adults, with cheaper price ranges for children. Right now, the museum is holding a lottery drawing for the chance to purchase tickets for dates beginning with the museum’s grand opening on October 2, which you can enter here.

What did you think of today’s Nintendo Museum Direct? Did it make you want to take a trip to Japan to see it for yourself? Let us know in the comments. And, be sure to check out the first details on the Donkey Kong theme park expansion at Universal Studios Japan, the next big entertainment endeavor from Nintendo.

Logan Plant is IGN’s Database Manager, Playlist Editor, and Super Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

It’s Official, The Nintendo Museum Opens October 2024

“A free Nintendo Account is required to make a reservation”.

Well, we’ve just had our first proper look at the Nintendo Museum, courtesy of Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and at the very end of the broadcast, an opening date was confirmed.

The official date is now confirmed as 2nd October 2024, following previous statements from Nintendo mentioning how it would be opening its doors in Fall 2024.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Minecraft Realms Servers Have Struggled With Being Down for Almost Week

Minecraft Realms have been struggling with downtime and other connectivity issues for almost a week now, and fans are taking notice.

Fans trying to access Realms have been reporting long loading times, connection errors, and other problems since at least August 13. It appears to have started around the release of Minecraft update 1.21.20, which included updates to Realms invite links as well as various bug fixes.

On August 15, Mojang tweeted that the Realms team was working “around the clock” to resolve the Bedrock Realms service issues. It subsequently reported that service had been restored, but connectivity issues continued throughout the weekend.

“We are still hard at work to bring Realms back online for all players. As of now roughly 70% of players should have access,” Mojang wrote on August 17. “As part of this work we have had to block traffic to Realms on 1.21.20 on all platforms other than Switch (until Switch gets the hotfix).”

Minecraft Realms are personal servers that are available to players via subscription. It’s touted as an area where fans can “easily and safely play online with their friends in shared worlds across devices.”

As of August 19, fans are still reporting connectivity issues with Minecraft Realms, which is corroborated by a large spike on Downdetector. IGN reached out to Mojang representatives for an update, but have not received a response.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Gamescom’s Best Nintendo Game Award Scrapped Because Of “Too Few” Games

Nintendo is skipping the event this year.

Who remembered that Gamescom gives out awards? Yep. At the end of every event, the show hands out awards to all eligible games that are present at the Cologne-based expo. One of these categories is the ‘Best Nintendo Game’, which has been around since 2012. However, the award won’t be handed out this year as the organisers have scrapped the award for 2024.

TheGamer, who reported on the story, reached out to Gamescom’s organisers about the decision to scrap the award, and their response revealed that there were “too few submissions” for the category. Here’s the brief statement in full:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

gamescom Scraps Best Nintendo Game Award for 2024 Due to ‘Too Few Submissions’

While Nintendo still has a few first-party games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Mario & Luigi: Brothership in the works for 2024, it appears Nintendo’s gamescom presence is so small that even the event organizer has confirmed it will not issue a Best Nintendo Switch Game award this year.

A gamescom spokesperson confirmed to TheGamer today that it will not issue a “Best Nintendo Switch Game” award because the event organizers received a small number of submissions to warrant an award at gamescom 2024.

“There were too few submissions for the Best Nintendo Switch category this year,” the spokesperson confirmed to TheGamer. “The award committee, therefore, decided to cancel the category.”

This marks the first year the Nintendo Switch will not have its own award category since the hybrid gaming system was released in 2017. Last year, the recipient of the Best Switch Game award was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which also won three additional awards, including Best Audio and Best Gameplay.

Of course, it may come as a surprise to no one. In April, Nintendo of Europe representative Games Wirtschaft told IGN sister site GamesIndustry.biz that Nintendo would not be physically appearing at gamescom 2024. This news is part of the wider rumor mill as Nintendo begins to gear up for the next hardware successor for the Switch, which is often regarded as the “Switch 2.”

While Nintendo has yet to reveal its next gaming system endeavor properly, the company does not anticipate the release of new hardware before April 2025.

gamescom 2024 is set to kick off on August 2024 with Opening Night Live, which will provide a ton of major news, reveals, and announcements. For more on gamescom 2024, check out our piece, where we predict what we can expect from this year’s event and what streams are scheduled throughout the week.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Baldur’s Gate 3 New Dark Urge Ending Gets First Look From Larian

Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting a big bad new ending for the Dark Urge playthrough in September and developer Larian Studios has shared a first look at its cinematic.

In a post on X/Twitter, the studio showed (spoilers ahead) what appears to be the Dark Urge protagonist sacrificing their beloved companions Shadowheart, Lae’zel, and Wyll, using mind control to force them to jump to their deaths.

The “cinematic teaser” is 52 seconds long, suggesting the full version must be fairly significant. It will arrive alongside the final full update to beloved role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 sometime in September, though no specific release date has been announced yet.

“Father would be so proud,” reads the post. “Embrace your destiny and feast your eyes on a new evil ending cinematic teaser for the Dark Urge, landing this September.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 was the surprise hit of 2023, as the Dungeons & Dragons-based game captured the attention of fans in unprecedented ways with its seemingly unlimited ways to tackle a seemingly unlimited number of situations.

In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: “With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.”

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

Tactical Breach Wizards review: humour, heart, smarts and playfulness conjure up an instant genre classic

Tactical Breach Wizards is a tactics game for people that don’t like tactics games. Magically, it’s also a tactics game for people who love them like nothing else. It’s permissive and demanding; playful and tense. Its globe-spanning plot covers conspiracies, PMCs, and brutal theocratic dictatorships. It also features a traffic-summoning warlock named Steve wearing a hi-vis robe. It’s finding that one absolutely, perfectly ridiculous XCOM turn, every turn…and at the same time knowing it’s absolutely, perfectly fine if you don’t. In short: it’s one of the most enjoyable tactics games I’ve ever played, and the only tactics game with a pyromancer so rubbish he relies on making his enemies pass out from heatstroke.

Read more

Feature: New Attacks, More Speed, Bigger Challenge – Good-Feel On Bringing ‘BAKERU’ To The West

“We’ve made adjustments to improve the overall gameplay experience”.

Some of you may have seen earlier this week that BAKERU, the previously Japan-only 3D action platformer from Good-Feel, was announced to be coming to Western shores for a fresh English release in just a few short weeks.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Unbeatable: new song and immersive PS5 gameplay detailed for the rhythm-based anime adventure

Unbeatable is a stunning hand-drawn anime-inspired rhythm adventure game. Experience what it means to be a band on the run – music is illegal in this world, but you won’t let that stop you. Follow Beat & her bandmates through their journey of self-discovery blending live song performances, spectacular set pieces and quirky rhythm challenges.

Explore a detailed open world and engage in branching conversations with several unique characters. Featuring a 100% original soundtrack alongside guest tracks and musical collaborations.

After revealing the game this summer with the memorable track “Memorize” (You see what we did there?) We are now excited to highlight a brand new track here on the PS Blog.

Introducing “Future People”


Unbeatable: new song and immersive PS5 gameplay detailed for the rhythm-based anime adventure

How do we even come up with new songs like this? Well, best to ask Clara Maddux, who is one half of the band Peak Divide who provides all the music for the game.

Has anyone seen Clara?

Oh there she is!

“Hi hi!! I’m Clara! I focus on a lot of the songwriting for Unbeatable. Since the music for the game is inherently intertwined with the narrative, the sound team has made an effort to squeeze as much emotional juice as we can from our collective musical brains to compliment it.

For me personally, I’ll try to find something in my life that parallels a story beat I’m writing music for. Most of the noodling I do before a song takes form is honestly just figuring out what that connection is, but once I’m able to picture it in my head, it’s much easier to relate to a character and tap into what they might be feeling.

Sometimes I’ll even just make a song to process emotions and then suddenly, oops, it’s an Unbeatable song because we’ve found a way to tie it into the story. Hopefully that just means the songs turn out all the more meaningful!!”

– Clara Maddux, Composer & Musician, D-Cell Games

See! Clara knows about this stuff.

Anyway, Unbeatable isn’t just about cranking up the tempo and shredding through tracks—it’s about getting you into the rhythm. The newly dropped track “Future People” proves just that, by flipping the script with a slower, more melodic groove that expands the game’s killer soundtrack. This track isn’t just versatile—it’s a curveball that forces you to rethink your rhythm game strategy. Who says rhythm games have to be all speed and no soul? With “Future People,” it’s all about getting into the zone, savoring every note, and owning the moment.

That doesn’t mean you can’t kick it up a notch though, increasing the difficulty will keep you on your toes (and maybe make you break a sweat).

Just remember, playing on normal is perfectly fine, we’re not here to judge, we’re here to make you bob your head and make you feel something.

The world pulses to (the) beat

In Unbeatable, music isn’t just the soundtrack—it’s the lifeblood of the world. As Beat, the game’s relentless protagonist, you’re not just moving through a city— you’re completely in tune as every step is in sync with the underground rhythms that defy the silence imposed by the no-fun-allowed regime. The world around you doesn’t just echo with the beat; it drives you forward, like a rebellious marching band, that refuses to be silenced.

Sense the beat

You want special features? We’ve got special features! Feel the heartbeat of the city in your hands with the haptic feedback features of the DualSense controller.

Feel the heartbeat of the city in your hands with the haptic feedback features of the Duel Sense controller. You can literally (figuratively) keep your finger on the pulse during your playthrough for that extra level of (music notes emoji) Immersion (Music notes emoji).

The adaptive triggers also come into play during some of the mini-games, to really make you feel like you’re sticking it to the man. Or wall, like, when you stick posters on the wall, specifically.

This is of course only a glimpse of what we have in store for Unbeatable so keep an eye out for more killer (news) beats.

Unbeatable will launch on PS5 in 2025.

Final Fantasy 16 PC Port Officially Announced With September Release Date and a Demo

PC gamers, your wait will be over soon, as Square Enix has officially announced that Final Fantasy 16 is headed to PC on September 17, 2024.

Announced ahead of tomorrow’s gamescom Opening Night Live presentation, the publisher confirmed that the PC port is on the way and will cost $49.99. Final Fantasy 16’s two DLC expansions, Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide, are launching simultaneously on PC, too, but you’ll need to pay extra if you want to play them. While it’s unclear if the story add-ons can be purchased individually, Square Enix is offering a “Complete Edition” version of the game for $69.99 that comes with the base experience, both DLC expansions, and a few miscellaneous in-game items. Additionally, Square Enix confirmed that a demo is available on Steam and the Epic Games Store now, with any progress made in the demo carrying over to the full build.

Final Fantasy 16 was released in 2023 exclusively for the PS5. Last September, Square Enix confirmed that a Final Fantasy 16 PC port was in the works, which came to the surprise of many as Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida previously shut down the possibility of it coming to PC, noting players should go buy a PS5 if they wanted to play it. In March, during an interview with Game Informer, Yoshida revealed that the PC port of Final Fantasy 16 was in the “final stages of optimization” and hinted that the system requirements to run the game would be “somewhat high.”

In our review of Final Fantasy 16, IGN wrote: “Featuring fast, reflex-driven, action-heavy combat, Final Fantasy 16 is certainly a departure from what fans may expect out of a Final Fantasy game, but its excellent story, characters, and world-building are right up there with the best the series has to offer, and the innovative Active Time Lore feature should set a new standard for how lengthy, story-heavy games keep players invested in its world.”

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.