Nathaniel
Jun 12, 2017
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e never get much of a break during E3 and Bethesda wanted to be sure that stayed true. Bethesdaland E3 2017 was reasonably short, but even then it seemed like they were almost struggling to fill it. If you like the games Bethesda has already put out, maybe you’ll find something to like, here. If not, it’s probably best to move along.
BethesdaVR
So Bethesda actually formatted the entire presentation into a single video, similar to a Nintendo Direct. They moved around their little theme park map explaining games that were represented there. To kick things off, they showed off their upcoming VR titles. Although “upcoming” may be the wrong word for it.What Bethesda has actually done is retrofitted two of their first-person games with VR technology.
What Bethesda has actually done is retrofitted two of their first-person games with VR technology. On paper, it sounds great, but when it gets right down to it, you’re still playing Doom and Fallout 4. It’s not a bad concept, though. Playing Doom VFR sounds and looks intense and Fallout 4 is a great time sink. Adding VR to either title helps greatly with immersion. There was no word on release timing, though.
The Elder Scrolls
There was actually a very noticeable presence of Elder Scrolls content. They started by reminding us of Elder Scrolls Online and how it just got a new expansion for Morrowind content. It’s great for fans of the third game in the series and it’s already out.
Next, they talked about possibly one of the sketchiest new additions to their content offerings. Creation Club is, for lack of a better description, essentially paid mods. There’s more to it, of course. Bethesda works with third parties and independent content creators to make sure the mods are fully integrated. However, you’re still buying what would be free on PC with real world money. It’s just bound to leave a sour taste in people’s mouths. Still, having more content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim isn’t bad on its own. It’s just the way they presented it.
After that, Bethesda reminded us of their attempt to cash in on the Hearthstone market. The Elder Scrolls: Legends will be getting a Skyrim expansion. There wasn’t too much to talk about, it seems, but this content will be available on June 29th.
Skyrim on Nintendo Switch
Finally, to wrap up their Elder Scrolls content, they talked about Skyrim on the Switch. (Bonus points for their pun: “Now that’s a Switch!”) The big twist here is that Skyrim will have Amiibo functionality! In the trailer, they used the Breath of the Wild Link Amiibo to make a chest appear that gave the player character Link’s clothes and weaponry. Bethesda told us elsewhere that any Zelda or Smash Amiibo will get you some loot in Skyrim.
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Skyrim came to Zelda, so now Zelda’s coming to Skyrim.
On top of that, we saw that Skyrim will have some basic motion controls. These will be simple stuff like raising a shield, swinging a sword, or firing a bow. These are likely negligible and can be done another way if it bothers you. It’s just nice to see that Bethesda put some effort into their Switch port of Skyrim. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a release date, but Bethesda once again stepped in elsewhere. Apparently, there will be more information at Nintendo’s E3 presentation on Tuesday.
Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider
Dishonored appears to be getting some new content. The expansion will release on September 15th. We didn’t see anything gameplay-wise, but the game shouldn’t have changed too much. The story is more important, but even that is left really blurry. There’s far too little information here to get excited for.
Quake
Quake Champions got a little bit of attention, as well. Bethesda seemed more interested in talking up the e-sports aspect of the fast-paced arena shooter, though. The big announcement for the game was the addition of B.J. Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein as a playable character.
Bethesda also appears to be organizing a Quake Championship tournament at Quakecon in Dallas on August 26th. There’s a hefty prize pool of $1 million. If you can’t wait, however, the beta is already available at quake.com.
The Evil Within 2
The next trailer proved to us that it’s a bad idea to watch this direct before bed. The Evil Within is getting a sequel and this trailer is a trip, to say the least. There’s once again very little in the way of gameplay, but that will likely work in the game’s favor, in the long run. We do know that The Evil Within 2 will be released on Friday the 13th of October.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Bethesda finished with one last new game announcement. Wolfenstein II was announced last year, but now we have a full trailer and release date. The game appears to take place in 1961 or slightly after, based on the commercials shown at the start. (MCMLXI is 1961.) The game looks pretty crazy and packed full of crazy action. The game comes out on October 27th.
Bethesda didn’t have much of a sign-off. The showcase was short and mostly showed off stuff we already knew about. They told us at the end to stay tuned to Bethesda.net for more info.
- Jun 11, 2017
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]icrosoft kicked off their E3 presence today with a 2-hour conference showing off games coming to the Xbox One in the next couple of years. The Xbox E3 2017 Briefing was a never-ending flow of trailers and gameplay. Although it ended after a little less than two hours, so you know…
Despite that, they actually chose to start by revealing Project Scorpio properly. It’s actually called the Xbox One X and it’ll be dropping in stores on November 7th for $499. It’s capable of playing games in 4K resolution and the console itself is Microsoft’s smallest one yet. Aside from that, they also announced the Xbox One S will be available for $249 next week. Finally, Microsoft also explained that their backwards compatibility service would be expanding. Now we’ll be able to play games from the original Xbox on the Xbox One, as well.
The Xbox One X is surprisingly slim for an Xbox.
GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!
After revealing the Xbox One X, Microsoft starting talking games, and this took up almost the entire conference. Phil Spencer took great pride in telling us that we’d see 42 games in total and that’s exactly what we saw. Some got more attention than others, but there was plenty to see, complete with availability details and release dates.
Forza Motorsport 7
To kick it off, Microsoft explained their partnership with Porsche and revealed a new game and a new car. Forza Motorsport 7 is your racing simulator complete with weather conditions, tons of tracks, and sweet car details. The game looks great and it’ll be exclusive to Xbox One, launching on October 3rd.
Trailers Round 1
Next, they showed a lineup of game trailers with the occasional developer delivering a few words. This kicked off with Metro Exodus, a post-apocalyptic nuclear fallout fantasy coming out in 2018. Assassin’s Creed Origins went next, taking place in Egypt and depicting the very beginning of the Assassin’s Brotherhood. AC Origins will launch on October 27th.
The next group was totally rapid fire:
- Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds — A massive multiplayer last-man-standing shooter. 100 player enter; only one leaves. It’s a timed exclusive, launching late this year.
- Deep Rock Galactic — This looks like Team Fortress with dwarves. It’s exclusive to Xbox One, but no launch window was given.
- State of Decay 2 — Zombie Apocolypse, a small team focusing on surviving and rebuilding. We’ve been here before. Comes out Spring 2018.
- The Darwin Project — More last-man-standing combat. They dressed this one up like an e-sport. It looks a bit like Overwatch, though. Exclusive to Xbox One, but no release date
Minecraft
Minecraft is getting two updates, this year. This Summer, they’ll be adding a community market and crossplay. Now you can play on the same servers with Switch, mobile, Xbox One, PC, or whatever you want. In the Fall, they’ll add a graphics pack and 4K resolution.
Trailers Round 2
- Dragonball Fighter Z — Want an anime fighter featuring Dragonball Z characters? Well, now you’ve got it! Again! Coming early next year.
- Black Desert — An Xbox One exclusive MMORPG that’s coming early, next year.
- The Last Night — This is a super artsy game made by Raw Fury. This will launch on Xbox One first, but we weren’t given a date.
- The Artful Escape — So is he imagining all of this, ooooor…? Launching on the X1, first. “Coming when it’s damn well ready.”
- Code Vein — Looks like Dark Souls with a few extra heaping helpings of anime. It’s coming next year.
Sea of Thieves
Rareware has been working on a little open world (open seas?) MMO featuring pirates. They had a fun little gameplay demo up with some humorous banter that made the preview a little more fun. We got to see the crew tracking down treasure in a sunken ship and on a far away island. They were heading back to a market to cash it in but got ambushed by another crew. The game looks fun, but we’ll need to see more genuine gameplay to be sure. The narrator even made jokes about it being scripted.
Look at this doofus holding up the map backwards. Works better for me, I guess.
Trailers Round 3
- Tacoma — Launching first on Xbox One. It’s kinda like Gone Home, but on a space station. Coming August 2nd.
- Super Lucky’s Tale — Conker, what have they done to you?! Oh, wait. You’re not Conker. Colorful 3D Platformer? Check. Coming out November 7th.
- Cuphead — Is it still a boss rush game? Don’t know. Looks nifty. We have an article on that. Releasing exclusively on Xbox One on September 29th.
- Crackdown 3 — It’s like Saints Row started trying to direct players more. Exclusive X1 release on November 7th.
ID@XBOX
Yup! Microsoft showed off their indie support again. Most of these aren’t exclusive. We can’t tell if any of them are, actually. We’ll just list those quickly, below:
- Osiris: New Dawn
- Raiders of the Broken Planet
- Unruly Heroes
- Path of Exile
- Battlerite
- Surviving Mars
- Fable Fortune
- >OBSERVER_
- Robocraft Infinity
- Dunk Lords
- Minion Masters
- Brawlout
- Ooblets
- Dark and Light
- Strange Brigade
- Riverbond
- Hello Neighbor
- Shift
- Conan Exiles
The Home Stretch
Microsoft was finally winding down after taking extensively about three games, going through three rounds of rapid-fire trailers, and giving us an indie sizzle reel showing off another 19 titles coming to Xbox One. They still had some news up their sleeve, though. The final act began with a trailer for Ashen, which looks like Dark Souls tried to go dressed in Overwatch’s art style. It’s exclusive, but there’s no release date.
Then we got a trailer for Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. Episode 1 of this will be available on August 31st. Then they talked about the sequel to Shadows of Mordor, Shadows of War. This Lord of the Rings game will allow you to not only forge a unique story like its predecessor but will also let you take orcs into your own army. The gameplay looks sick, but the banter may have been a little TOO clean. We can only hope it’s like that in the actual game, which launches on October 10th.
There was a gentle moment for the next trailer. The composer played the trailer music live on a piano. That’s how we were introduced to and moved by Ori and the Will of the Wisps. There was no gameplay, no launch window, or even anything regarding availability. We know nothing about the game, but a new Ori game can’t be a bad thing, can it?
Anthem
Now for the moment that EA’s audience has been on the edge of their seat for since yesterday. Anthem got a beautiful gameplay trailer. Bioware’s new IP plays much like we expected. It’s reminiscent of Mass Effect, but the focus seems to be on exploring and taking on missions in multiplayer. It feels a bit like an answer to Destiny in some ways, but we won’t likely see this game until after E3 2018.
Xbox E3 2017 Briefing Final Thoughts
This morning’s presentation was fast paced and exciting. New games came after new games and release dates were on a good chunk of it. Microsoft made a strong case for the Xbox One, today. However, they failed to interest anyone that doesn’t have a 4K television in the Xbox One X. At least, it seems that way to us.
The Xbox E3 2017 Briefing delivered most on games. A whopping 42 titles were shown that would be coming to Microsoft’s console. We’re especially excited for Sea of Thieves, Super Lucky’s Tale, Cuphead, Shadows of War, and Ori. Let us know what you think in the comments, or if you haven’t watched it yet, check the video below for the Xbox E3 2017 Briefing. (The show starts at about 34:20 in the video below.)
- Jun 10, 2017
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o E3 is finally here once again, but it seems something’s amiss. EA must not have been happy with Bethesda getting the drop on them a day before the big pressers. They’ve decided to shoot for the day before that. It’s kinda silly, but yes, we did just get the EA E3 2017 Press Conference.
It should come as no big surprise that they talked about their yearly iterations and Battlefront II. In fact, we won’t likely be going into detail with the EA E3 2017 Press Conference. We will, however, give you a recap of the event so you can go check it out if you missed anything interesting.
EA Sports
So, naturally, EA kicked off their conference with sports. They were a bit more conservative, this time, though. Instead of talking about sports non-stop for almost an hour, they settled for presenting three games separated by other announcements.
Anyways, they chose to kick things off with a trailer for Madden ’18: Long Shot. Right off the bat, this trailer shows us EA’s direction for the rest of the conference, too. It’s shot almost like a movie. However, rather than showing without telling, EA almost seemed to avoid gameplay discussion of any sort, at first.
After taking some time to talk about Battlefield, EA returned to sports by explaining that they wanted to find more e-sports stars. They’ll be putting a focus on competitive FIFA Interactive, it seems. They’ll be holding a major tournament where anyone could potentially get noticed.
We did see more of FIFA in a trailer about what may be the campaign mode, but the gameplay was mostly avoided here, too. It’s probably a fair bet that the gameplay hasn’t changed too much since last year, though.
The story campaign, The Journey, centers around Hunter, a very in-demand player.
Towards the end, we got some heavily scripted gameplay for NBA Live ’18. As per usual, they talked a lot about the game and its story campaign but didn’t spend much time on the actual gameplay. There was again, a nice trailer to show us where you create a character and go on tour. They didn’t have much else to talk about, though.
DICE Titles
The first game EA gave any serious attention to today wasn’t Madden, though. It was Battlefield 1, which is getting an expansion titled “In the Name of the Tsar.” This expansion will explore the Eastern front of WWI. It opens up the Russian Cavalry and the women’s brigade of death for play, as well. The expansion will also add eight more maps to the game. EA chose to leave any further details for Gamescom in August.
Just as they started it, DICE also ended the EA E3 2017 Press Conference. They were teasing us with Battlefront II from the start of the show, but took the last half-hour or so to show everything off. They seemed to want to be clear that they took all the feedback into considerations. There’s plenty of gameplay to look into, so on this, we’d rather show than tell. If you watch anything from the conference, you should watch this.
Darth Maul was announced as playable in Battlefront II. They highlighted him in the gameplay demo that took up the last third of the conference.
Other EA Games
EA provided another break in their sports talks with Need For Speed: Payback. This was the first strong gameplay we got to see today. EA showed a campaign mission where the team tracks down and steals back a stolen car. The mission itself seemed highly scripted, however. It looked like a lot of fun, but it’s hard to judge on this alone. We’ll want to keep an eye out for this one, this week. This was probably a highlight of the conference, next to Battlefront II.
After that, EA began talking about an indie developed title called A Way Out. The developer was known for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. This prison escape simulator takes the ideas of its predecessor to a logical next step. A Way Out allows two players to play split-screen as if they were each playing a single-player game. Cutscenes for one player won’t affect the other player’s gameplay. This one will also be very interesting.
Before going back to sports, EA teased one more game for us. Anthem didn’t come with any real details, but as it’s made by Bioware, we may already know what to expect. EA said we’d see more at the Xbox conference, tomorrow.
All we got was this teaser. Looks sick!
Conclusion
EA needed to try hard to win the crowd, this year. It seems they had a good show but didn’t cover most of the games nearly enough. They showed off eight games:
- Madden NFL ’18: Long Shot
- Battlefield 1: In the Name of the Tsar
- FIFA ’18
- Need For Speed: Payback
- A Way Out
- Anthem
- NBA Live ’18: The One
- Star Wars Battlefront II
They spent plenty of time talking about the Battlefield expansion and A Way Out’s new take on multiplayer. They also showed gameplay for Need For Speed and Battlefront. Unfortunately, the rest of the games got a trailer and got rushed out the door immediately afterward. Overall, this amount of content is underwhelming, but fans of shooters or Star Wars will have something to talk about for sure.
(You can watch the entire conference below, in case you want to see it.)
- Jun 6, 2017
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his morning, Nintendo hosted a Pokemon-themed Direct on their website, Youtube, and Facebook. The Pokemon Direct was short, only taking about eight minutes to show off a couple trailers. In total, they made three announcements. However, we were a little underwhelmed with the presentation as a whole.
Pokken Tournament DX
While we might have guessed Pokken would see a Switch release, we hardly expected it to be the focus of this Direct. Pokken Tournament released on the Wii U and in Japanese arcades. It’s been a little over a year since the game hit consoles worldwide. It seems the team behind this game have been busy, though, as this isn’t just a regular remake.
Pokken Tournament will feature new online modes to make it easier to fight the way you want to. It’s also going to include the characters that have been added to the arcade version, but we never saw on the Wii U. That’s four characters. Croagunk, Scizor, Darkrai, and Empoleon will all be playable in the Switch version. They’re also adding one more character that will likely see an arcade release soon: Decidueye.
An action shot of Decidueye in Pokken Tournament. Very nice.
Other than that, 3v3 battles have been added to the game. Nintendo announced that Pokken Tournament DX would be available on September 22nd of this year. They also said that it would be at E3. It’ll be on the show floor, but they’ll also be doing an invitational tournament for it, like Splatoon and Arms. This will take place on June 14th.
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
This was by far the most surprising announcement of the Pokemon Direct. However, it was also probably the most disappointing for a lot of fans. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon were explained as an alternate story taking place in the same setting. This does little to assure people that it’ll be worth the full price tag.they showed a few scenes in the trailer, but really, any details were vague. It does appear to be a more grim retelling of the story, though.
The trailer was packed full of information, but none of it got us that excited about this game. However, The Pokemon Company has been known to underwhelm us at the start and build up hype over time. We wouldn’t be surprised if these new titles eventually show us their worth. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon will be releasing on November 17th on the 3DS, just in time for the holidays, as usual.
Promo image depicting Solgaleo and Lunala and… are they fused with Necrozma?
UPDATE: While working on this article, the press site was updated with Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The games were listed as coming to the Switch with an unknown date. This could have easily been an error and may very well mean nothing. It still seems like it’s worth mentioning, though.
Pokemon Gold and Silver Virtual Console
Before the Pokemon Direct was over, Nintendo slipped in one last announcement. The 3DS is getting classic versions of Pokemon Gold and Silver, similar to how they got Red, Blue, and Yellow, before. There isn’t a lot to say about them, as they’ll be the same games with a little extra functionality. The games will be available on September 22nd.
Final Thoughts about the Pokemon Direct
Overall, the presentation left us wanting a lot more than we actually got. While we can’t blame Nintendo for the hype that went around because of the Pokemon Stars rumors, it’s hard to be excited for what can hardly be called new. Pokken Tournament DX has some welcome changes to the original game and Pokemon Gold and Silver are always welcome in the 3DS family. It’s still difficult to see Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon as anything more than a cash grab.
We suspect there will be a lot more about the revisit to the Alola region to get us excited for it in the future. We’re just not sure the announcement as is will generate much hype on its own. Regardless, you can watch the Pokemon Direct below, if you missed it, before. (Presentation starts at 30:15) You can also click here to go to the Youtube page.
- Jun 2, 2017
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Arms Global Testpunch is about to begin again, but we still have some news. According to the Official Arms Twitter, Twintelle will be playable in the upcoming second weekend. This seems a little strange, considering she was left out of the first week, along with two other characters. We assumed they were left out because they were all just announced a couple weeks before then. With Twintelle joining the roster, this weekend, maybe that’s no longer the problem.
They even released new official art of the character alongside the announcement.
With that in mind, we wonder if it’s going to be all Arms characters, this time, or if they’re just adding Twintelle. We could believe she was the only one, as she’s undoubtedly the most popular of the newly revealed characters. However, it also makes sense that since she was announced alongside them, the others would also be available. Kid Cobra, along with Byte and Barq are the odd characters out.
Whatever the case, we won’t have to wait long for the answer. The Global Testpunch will be live again in just seven hours. Hoops is replacing Volleyball, this week. That makes this the second major change, so we’ll be looking for any others that appear. For instance, we think it may be possible that we’ll be playing on different stages, this week. Just to hazard a guess, perhaps Ribbon Girl, Min Min, and Twintelle will get to show off their stages, this time.
In any case, be ready for the Arms Global Testpunch to resume. Remember that demos are available for one hour at a time. These take place at 5 AM, 11 AM, and 5 PM (Pacific time) each day. Starting at 5 PM today and ending after the 11 AM demo on Sunday. Make sure to keep an eye on us, too, as we’ll be updating with any more Arms news coming in the near future. A full list of the ARMS testpunch times can be found here.
- Jun 2, 2017
[dropcap]U[/dropcap]bisoft is a French gaming company known for its open world titles and crazy stage presentations. They have a press conference every year at E3, and this year is no different. In fact, they want us to know that for a fact. Thus an Ubisoft E3 2017 teaser trailer showing off a bit of the lineup was released. (We stress “a bit” because they made a point to let us know that a lot of their lineup is unannounced.)
So what could it all mean? Well, it means that Ubisoft is excited for E3. Not everything can have a deeper meaning, no matter what some of our writers want to believe. We did catch a small detail that might be of significance, though. There was a cardboard cutout of an Assassin’s Creed character in the background on one shot and a Rabbid in another. As two of Ubisoft’s favorite franchises, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We still think it’d be funny if Ubisoft were trying to tease games relating to those characters, though. Or even better, if they were poking fun at those games being leaked.
Regardless, it’s clear that Sony has a lot planned for the presentation, which should make it interesting. We’ll just have to wait a little more than a week to see what the game industry is up to. It won’t be much longer, but we’ll keep covering the hype and speculation leading up to the big event, so stick around.
- May 30, 2017
[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ot too long ago, we posted about a number of images that had been allegedly leaked. These images depicted what appears to be Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch. While Smash Switch rumors have been hot since before the Switch’s official reveal, this is the first we’ve seen anything more than text and promises. It’s easy to claim that these images are real, but here on the internet, we like to be a bit more skeptical. So instead of accepting the images at face value, we’d like to go through them and get a good look at what’s available to see.
Analyzing Smash Switch Screens
Here’s the first image, and likely the easiest one to try and argue against. As fans who played Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS will know, this stage is available in that game. That makes it clear that this scenario tells us nothing new. HOWEVER, that’s not quite enough to satisfy our skepticism, so we’re going to compare the image above to a screen of the same stage from the 3DS. (And get used to that formula, as it’ll be appearing fairly often in this article.)This is already pretty strong evidence for these leaks off the bat. Above, you can see the Smash Switch version of this stage and to the right, the 3DS version. The lighting on the Switch is far more dynamic and the paper craft textures are more detailed than they are on the 3DS. Even the HUD is completely different! That doesn’t prove anything, however, as this could have potentially been rebuilt in Smash 4 by hacking. We wouldn’t count on it, though. That would be a lot of work just to fool the internet. Still, it would be best not to forget what happened with the Smashify “leak” of Rayman.
Next, we have two peas in a pod, here. These images both show Smash run, but it doesn’t take a comparison to know that these images are the same sort that we saw with the Paper Mario Stage. These aren’t Smash 3DS graphics. We suppose the same argument for the Paper Mario stage could be used here. It just seems unlikely. Who can do all that and is willing to put up with it to create a fake Smash Switch leak? Again, these images hold up fairly well, but there’s still one more big one to cover.
Now’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. This image looks to be entirely new, right? Well, sort of. Break the Targets was present as a microgame in Smash Run on the 3DS. But again, the graphics don’t seem to match. Secondly, this isn’t new at all. When we first saw this image, it made us very curious, but we did a little digging and found this.
If this leak is to be believed, what we’re seeing is a screenshot of the return of Break the Targets in Smash Switch, and this stage, in particular, happens to be exclusive to Yoshi in Melee. Again, it doesn’t take a side-by-side to see the graphics don’t match. If anything, this just makes the leaks stronger. There’s no reasonable doubt that this is all entirely real! Right down the new HUDs for split screen and the return of character-exclusive Break the Target stages.But let us know what you guys think. Does someone have the skill and will to fake all of these screens, or will we most likely be seeing these in a Smash reveal at this year’s E3? Post your thoughts in the comments below and keep checking back to see if we uncover any more secrets to these games and more! Check out our original article on these screens, if you want to know more.
- May 30, 2017
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]une is approaching fast and with that come E3 and the games we’ll be playing all Summer. Like last month, we’re going to outline just a small sample of the upcoming June games. It may be too soon to try and guarantee the quality of anything on this list. However, we’d like to keep a close eye on these titles and suggest that our readers do the same.
This article was written before E3, just to be clear. We update weekly with any games coming to notable systems and E3 is likely to surprise us with something. Therefore, it would be smart to keep an eye on our page, as well, for any updates. Also, we focus a lot on Nintendo systems. While we might include games from other systems, we tend to look for games fitting under a more casual banner.
With that out of the way, let’s begin!
June Games for Nintendo Switch
GoNNER – Remember all that frustrating roguelike action we got last month? Were you aching for more? You’re in luck! GoNNER, an indie rage shooter developed by Art in Heart and published by Raw Fury (a fitting name), is making its way to the Switch, this month. Back in October, it already found its way onto other consoles and Steam, but now you can play it on the go. This game’s chalkboard aesthetic, procedural generation, and addictively difficult gameplay will keep you going for a while. (Launches 6/8/17; $9.99)
Cars 3: Driven to Win – With a new Pixar movie comes another video game adaptation of the film. This one appears to focus primarily on the racing, centering the story around your opponents in each race. With a racing mode and battle mode available, it may be just the thing you need to come down from that Mario Kart high that overshadowed the last month. (Launches 6/13/17; $59.99 Get it here Switch/WII U, PS4/PS3, Xbox One/360)
ARMS – It’s finally here! If you’ve been following us, you know how excited we are for Nintendo’s next big title. Arms appears to have all the depth and fun it needs to survive the Summer, but we already wrote plenty on that. Instead, tune into the Global Testpunch and give the game a try for yourself. (Launches 6/16/17; $59.99 Get it here )
Cave Story+ – There’s not a lot to say, here. Cave Story is an old indie Metroidvania title that showed us all how indie is done. If you knew about it before, this is the same game you already know. This game is accessible to most players, and it has an easy-to-follow story and adorable pixel art graphics. The soundtrack is a classic that will surely be stuck in your head if it isn’t already. (Launches 6/20/17; $29.99 Get it here )
(RiME, which we covered last month, and Shakedown Hawaii are slated for Q2 and Spring, respectively. By process of elimination, they should release this month, but that’s far from a guarantee. If we get word that they are releasing this month, then we will update this page with info regarding them.)
June Games for Nintendo 3DS
Of Mice and Sand – Did you miss out on Fallout Shelter? The game where you raise post-apocalyptic survivors in an underground base and do your best to keep things from falling apart? Developer Arc System Works and publisher Circle Entertainment has the solution for you. This title will let you take control of a large vehicle in the desert and populate it with mice that will help you build your dream tank. Then you can manage the mice living there to maintain the vehicle, cross the desert, and take on quests for resources. (Launches 6/1/17; $7.99)
Farming Simulator 18 – This farming sim developed by Giant Software is probably the perfect game to soak up a lot of time. If you’re waiting for a certain game to come out or want to buy something that’ll last you a long time this is probably a reasonable place to start. Run a farm, plant your crops, breed and raise animals. You’re in charge and no one can say otherwise. (Launches 6/6/17; $29.99 Get it here – ON SALE )
Ever Oasis – This is another one of those games that will likely define the month. Just as well that it comes closer to the end, then. Ever Oasis puts you in charge of a budding oasis, one of the last bastions of life in a seemingly endless desert. With the help of a water spirit and any adventurers you can bring with you, you’ll go exploring and taking on quests out in the desert sands. (Launches 6/23/17; $39.99 Get it here )
RPG Maker Fes – Creative tools! Creative tools from every angle! This 3DS version of the computer program will allow you to create and share RPG games on the Nintendo 3DS. There will be another app available for those that just want to play games made with this program, but we’ll likely hear more about that at E3. (Launces 6/27/17; Price $39.99 Get it here )
Other
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy – 3D platforming fanatics rejoice! Crash is back! This title is a solid remaster of the three main series Crash Bandicoot games and it’s coming to PS4. If you missed out on it back in the PS1 era, or you just want to play it again for old time’s sake, this title is for you. (Launches for PS4 6/30/17; $39.99 Get it here)
