After reports that all three major platform holders were skipping E3, Nintendo has confirmed to IGN that it will indeed be missing the event slated for June.
“We approach our involvement in any event on a case-by-case basis and are always considering various ways to engage with our fans,” Nintendo told IGN in a statement. “Since this year’s E3 show didn’t fit into our plans, we have made the decision to not participate. However, we have been and continue to be a strong supporter of the ESA and E3.”
IGN previously broke the news that Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo would not be formally taking part in E3 2023, with Nintendo pulling out due to a lack of major releases to promote. Xbox will be hosting its own event in Los Angeles, but it will not be at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
With E3 roughly three months away, uncertainty continues to hover around the event as publishers weigh their options. Ubisoft recently announced that it would attend E3 if the event went forward, but otherwise IGN understands that little has changed from a month ago, with few publishers being willing to full commit to attending.
E3 2023 is currently slated for June 13 to June 16 in the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is unclear whether Nintendo will hold a Nintendo Direct to match, as it has in previous years.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
RPGs set you off on some kind of grand quest, a hero’s journey filled with danger and peril as you track down some legendary sword to defeat a world-ending evil. Boots Quest DX, however, has much humbler aspirations. You are a mere boot enthusiast on an adventure to find the very bestest best boots known to man (or blobs, I genuinely can’t tell what provenance these rotund creatures hail from), and nothing else will deter you from achieving your lifelong goal. Find a honking great sword on the beach? Trash. A pirate’s cutlass? Get in the sea, literally. If it’s not a pair of boots, you’re not interested – and it all makes for a brisk, anti-RPG adventure that’s incredibly refreshing.
Just like any franchise that’s been going as long as it has, Digimon video games have had plenty of ups and downs. Digimon World: Next Order was first released in 2016 for the PlayStation Vita, with a PlayStation 4 release making its way to the West the following year. Since then, it has enjoyed enough of a cult following that it has now been ported to PC and Switch years later. Perhaps owing to its origins on Sony’s handheld console, it feels right at home on the Switch but Digimon World: Next Order is still a title that struggles to find its footing.
The opening of the game throws players into a tense battle between two highly evolved Digimon companions and a powerful opponent that serves as a tutorial for the combat system. Fights play out in real-time, with the player’s partners acting on their own initiative, based on which of the three pre-set AI behaviours you’ve chosen for them. Players can choose specific actions for them to take, but only if they have accrued enough Order Points through the course of the fight.
These are some key tips and strategies to know before you jump into the world of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, launching March 3 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC.
From Morale Rank, to counter-attacks, and more, we prepare you for the fight that’s in store.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is available for pre-order on the Xbox Store and will be available day one with Game Pass for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC.
We know you’re eager to get your hands on Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty when launches day one with Game Pass on March 3. But before Team Ninja’s latest action RPG arrives, we’re dropping a new two-chapter demo today on the Xbox Store that showcases the thrilling combat and intense fighting of a demon-plagued, dark fantasy-infused Three Kingdoms.
Here you’ll be tasked to defy the odds using a mix of magic and Chinese martial arts as an anonymous militia soldier, battling your way through waves of monsters and enemy soldiers in this Later Han Dynasty epic. It’s a great opportunity to see what the game has in store, and best of all your saved data from the Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Demo will carry over to the full game starting on March 3. If you manage to complete the first chapter, you’ll even be rewarded with the Crouching Dragon Helmet to equip in-game.
Before you jump into the action, though, I wanted to break down seven things to know before you awaken your inner strength in the full game.
Morale to the Story
The first thing you’ll need to understand about the game is Morale Rank. Morale Rank is a growth element used during missions that is different from your character’s level. The higher your Morale Rank, the less damage you’ll receive from enemies and the more battle elements are made available. Morale Points can be earned by defeating enemies or by landing Martial Arts attacks, Spirit attacks, or a Fatal Strike. Your Morale Rank can increase to a maximum level of 25.
Enemy Morale
Enemy Morale Ranks are displayed in the UI above their heads. The higher your Morale Rank is compared to the enemy’s, the greater the damage they will deal. In addition, the color of the Morale Rank icon indicates their threat level, with green Morale Ranks being lower or equal to your character, yellow being 1-4 points higher, and red being 5+ points higher. Basically, if you see an enemy with a red Morale Rank, you might want to raise your own level a bit before fighting them, or you could be in for a swift death.
Spirit Squad
Beyond Morale, you’ll also need to keep an eye on your Spirit Gauge. Spirit is the strength of an individual’s willpower during battle and can be used to strike down enemies using Martial Arts, Wizardry Spells, and Spirit attacks. Increase your Spirit Gauge by landing normal attacks or deflecting an enemy attack, but beware, getting hit by enemies will decrease your Spirit, leaving you vulnerable against some of the tougher soldiers and monsters in-game.
Deflect! Deflect! Deflect!
While you’re able to block most attacks, the key to making enemies miss or even stagger, while setting them up for even bigger blows, is the ability to Deflect. Wait for your opponent to set up for their strike, and as they move in for their attack, use just the right timing to press B in order to Deflect the assault, setting yourself up for your own maneuver. And remember, Deflects also help increase your Spirit!
Wizards and Warriors
Wizardry Spells are special skills that align with the elements of the Five Phases. You can set up to four different Wizardry Spells for use during combat. By targeting the enemy’s weak elements and status effects, you can gain the upper hand in battle. Successful use of Wizardry Spells can nullify an enemy’s elemental attack. For example, a Flame area (of the Fire Phase) created by an enemy can be extinguished by a Water Phase Spell.
Death From Above
When climbing up cliffs or alongside a building, look down and check for enemies. Press Y while jumping down to perform a Fatal Strike against an unaware soldier or demon! Fatal Strikes can also be performed from behind by sneaking up on an enemy and pressing Y. The lock-on marker will turn red if it’s possible to perform a Fatal Strike on a target.
Part Destruction
Demons have hardened body parts that can be destroyed. You can destroy the hardened part by attacking it or by deflecting an enemy’s Critical Blow. If you successfully perform part destruction, the enemy will no longer be able to perform a Critical Blow or other attacks with that part. Part destruction also reduces the enemy’s maximum Spirit limit, which will then increase your chance to launch a Fatal Strike.
These seven tips are just the start to the depth of Wo Long’s gameplay. From Divine Beasts to the various weapon types and Chinese martial arts, there are layers upon layers upon layers to learn, and this demo will give you a taste of what’s to come when the game launches March 3 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, and will be available day one with Game Pass on console and PC.
Until then, jump into the demo and see how many demons you can destroy. And don’t forget to check out the exciting new launch trailer released today, showcasing just some of the famous faces from the Three Kingdoms you’ll encounter along the way.
It’s time for another Question Block edition of the weekly NVC column. This week, we’re answering what seems like an easy one, but it turns out it’s NOT easy. Shane Dowley wrote us at nvc@ign.com and asked the following question:
“For new Switch buyers, what would be your top 5 essential games that you would tell them to buy?”
First off, we answered this during this week’s episode of NVC, but we’re getting a little more formal with the answers. Much as Wheel of Fortune automatically gives players in the final round a free R,S,T,L,N and E, we answered this question with the most common games as give-ins: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Mario Odyssey. The remaining picks are below.
Reb Valentine
Assuming you have some other device to play multi-platform games that are nonetheless superb on the Switch already (like Hollow Knight or Celeste), then obviously you need a trove of Switch exclusives. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an essential cornerstone of the Switch library for its ability to suck you in for hundreds of hours alone as well as incorporate joyful, social play. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle introduces a genre many Nintendo enthusiasts might be less familiar with by painting it with a familiar and family-friendly veneer (and it is, I argue, better than Sparks of Hope!). Luigi’s Mansion 3, easily one of the best games on the system, deserves a spot on sheer charm. And there’s literally nothing in the world like Ring Fit Adventure, one of the most unique RPGs I’ve ever played and with absolutely no peer on any other system anywhere. For my fifth pick, obviously you’ll need the NSO Expansion Pass for all the games it comes with (yes, even though I regularly quip that no one actually plays them), but more importantly for the Mario Kart and Animal Crossing DLC.
Peer Schneider
I usually start my recommendations with SteamWorld Dig, but I’m gonna mix it up this time! Switch has a strong lineup of wonderful co-op multiplayer games – some ported from other platforms like Diablo III, New Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Country: Tropical Freeze, but many are unique to the system. My number one Switch Essential pick – and a co-op delight – is Luigi’s Mansion 3. Seriously, it’s fantastic. Next up, it’s Splatoon 3. It’s just a ridiculously good competitive shooter. You can lose hundreds of hours to this game in competitive and co-op modes, or just have fun for a weekend with the campaign mode. For my final three picks, I’m going with a trio of top-tier remakes/remasters: the charming handheld classic The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, multi-scenario Square JRPG Live A Live, and most-likely prettiest game on Switch forever Metroid Prime Remastered.
Seth Macy
This is a tough one, and so I’m going to cheat right off the bat by recommending the Nintendo Switch Online expansion pass. It costs as much as a game – granted, a game you have to buy every year – but it has so many great games included with the service it’s totally worth it now. After that, I have the controversial pick of Minecraft for Nintendo Switch. Yes, you can play Minecraft on a TI-89 calculator at this point, but it works so great on Switch and there’s something extra special about playing it handheld. After that, things get trickier for me. I’m going to say Bayonetta 2, even though it’s originally a Wii U game. It’s better than its sequel and just feels so damn good to play. Metroid Prime Remastered is also another absolute must-play, and while you probably can’t get it as a physical cart anymore, it’s on the eShop (and cheaper that route, too). Finally, and this is just me being weird, I’m going to say if you have a Switch, you should also have Axiom Verge 2. You don’t need to have played the first to enjoy the second, and it’s probably my favorite Metroidvania of the last decade. It’s super good!
So what are your picks for the five essential Nintendo Switch games (that aren’t Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Super Mario Odyssey)? Start the arguments in the comments!
Time Bandit – brings up the question: how do you want to spend your time? I’m left pondering it for far longer than I think I otherwise would, thinking about it in context. The obvious answer here is: playing an videogame, please. But Time Bandit’s free demo doesn’t take long to make me almost uncomfortably aware that there’s more than one way to play something. I don’t even need to be anywhere near the PC. I might actually be playing it more when I’m not [X-Files music, but also I’m going somewhere with this].
Street Fighter 6‘s roster last night: big lad Zangief, Union Jack-wearing Cammy and newcomer Lily, a descendant of T. Hawk’s famous Thunderfoot tribe. Before we talk about anything else, though, can we please just take a moment to appreciate Zangief’s enormous bod? The Street Fighter wrestler was always a force to be reckoned with in earlier games, but holy heck, I bet you could fit four Marcus Fenixes into those biceps and still have room left over for his son and fellow Gears Of War slab JD. Come and see what I mean in the new trailer below.
Flying over from mobile back in 2021, we were impressed with how at home Sky: Children of the Light immediately felt on Switch. Now two years on from this port, thatgamecompany is still managing to add new content to the game, the most recent of which has just landed in the ver. 0.20.5 update.
This latest patch has all the usual bug fixes and improvements alongside the continuation of the in-game Season of Remembrance, fresh features in Shared Spaces and the reintroduction of the Days of Bloom event for 2023.
In Midgar, the slums bustle with people, mako reactors smolder, and the soil turns to dust; carried by breezes flowing through smog-filled air. The whole place could use a good hose down. Through the fog, a new hero emerges, clad in blue, wielding… a powerwasher.
Okay, so, you might not be able to cleanse the world of the Shinra scourge, but you can just straight up cleanse the world! Whilst Avalanche deals with Shinra, you’ll deal with the fallout. The only power struggle you’re tasked with is keeping hold of that washer.
We are proud to have worked with the Final Fantasy VII team to transport PowerWash Simulator players to one of gaming’s most recognisable cities, in a fresh and authentic way. Players will fall in love with it once more in the new Midgar Special Pack, releasing March 2.
Free to all owners of PowerWash Simulator, the expansion features five filthy new maps to wash and explore, including iconic locations, vehicles and mechs. I’ll pass over to some of FuturLab’s designers, who worked on the Midgar Special Pack, to provide a closer look at the inspiration behind two of the levels, the Scorpion Sentinel and Seventh Heaven.
The Mighty Scorpion Sentinel
One of the most memorable boss fights in Final Fantasy VII is without a doubt the Scorpion Sentinel, making it a perfect job for the Midgar Special Pack. The player will encounter the Sentinel before its deployment against the members of Avalanche, and here it is seen to have been put through a series of tests by Shinra to evaluate its various defensive capabilities.
We’ve represented a variety of scratches and projectile ricochet marks via a new Battle Damage dirt type. Additionally, the Scorpion Sentinel bears the consequences of a test with one of Professor Hojo’s specimens, as seen from the splats of bio residue present all around the machine from this creature’s attacks. As the Sentinel is powered by Mako energy (my favourite new dirt type), we have deposited it in key areas to illustrate how the Sentinel had been pushed to its limits. The rest of the dirt is mostly grime that accumulated during the various trials the Scorpion Sentinel underwent.
“When recreating the iconic Scorpion Sentinel in PowerWash Simulator we really wanted to make the Sentinel feel alive, so various animations such as its roving eye and claws and can be seen. We also wanted to be able to interact with it, so players can move the Sentinel’s arms to get different angles for cleaning.”
– Federico D’Apote, Designer
The Charming Seventh Heaven
For the Midgar special pack, we absolutely knew we had to tackle the best bar in Sector 7 and home of Avalanche, Seventh Heaven. Not only does it give players the opportunity to hear from beloved FFVII characters like Cloud and Tifa (while also being able to clean some of gaming’s coolest weapons like Barret’s gun and Cloud’s buster sword) but our first-person perspective also offers the opportunity to take a closer look at Tifa’s decorating skills and explore areas of the bar players couldn’t see as easy before.
“Bars, especially dystopian fantasy ones, are often bursting with environmental storytelling and attract a variety of dirt. Tifa has had to teach Don Corneo’s disrespectful lackeys a lesson. So, we’ve completely covered the floor in footprints, splattered food and drink stains on the tabletops and walls, along with some general age and neglect build-up in those hard-to-reach places. This results in a very satisfying cleaning experience with a uniquely Final Fantasy finish!”
– Sam Jenkins, Designer
Alongside the Scorpion Sentinel and Seventh Heaven, you will also spray down the Hardy Daytona and Shinra Hauler, the Mako Energy Exhibit, and the formidable Airbuster.
Whether you’re a dirt detailer or a chaotic cleaner, each map will afford you the time and space to appreciate the captivating city and some of Shinra’s finest tech as never before… you know, as it’s not attacking you this time.
Whilst the fate of the city may be muddy, perhaps you can help clear a path for a few plucky heroes. The Midgar Special Pack for PowerWash Simulator releases on March 2.
RPGs set you off on some kind of grand quest, a hero’s journey filled with danger and peril as you track down some legendary sword to defeat a world-ending evil. 
Read more
Time Bandit – brings up the question: how do you want to spend your time? I’m left pondering it for far longer than I think I otherwise would, thinking about it in context. The obvious answer here is: playing an videogame, please. But Time Bandit’s free demo doesn’t take long to make me almost uncomfortably aware that there’s more than one way to play something. I don’t even need to be anywhere near the PC. I might actually be playing it more when I’m not [X-Files music, but also I’m going somewhere with this].
Street Fighter 6‘s roster last night: big lad Zangief, Union Jack-wearing Cammy and newcomer Lily, a descendant of T. Hawk’s famous Thunderfoot tribe. Before we talk about anything else, though, can we please just take a moment to appreciate Zangief’s enormous bod? The Street Fighter wrestler was always a force to be reckoned with in earlier games, but holy heck, I bet you could fit four Marcus Fenixes into those biceps and still have room left over for his son and fellow Gears Of War slab JD. Come and see what I mean in the new trailer below.