Author: Game Infliction

How to Buy These 3DS and Wii U Games Before They’re Gone Forever

Twelve Years after the doors of the 3DS and Wii U eShop opened, they are sadly closing for good.

Nintendo has announced that on March 27th, 2023, it will no longer be possible to purchase games digitally from that generation of consoles. But for months now, it’s been impossible to buy anything ever since they revoked the ability to directly add funds to your account, so we shouldn’t care about this announcement, right? Well, turns out there’s a completely valid way Nintendo has allowed you to still add funds to your account, and it’s super simple to do.

So here is how you can still buy 3DS and Wii U games before they are gone forever–plus some game recommendations in case you don’t know what to get.

How to Still Buy Games on 3DS and Wii U.

To start, you’re gonna need a Nintendo Switch, this is the key to all of this. Click on your personal user icon in the top left of the home screen, then scroll down to “Friend Suggestions.” You’ll notice icons for the 3DS and Wii U in the top bar. Go ahead and click “Next” in either tab and it will prompt you to sign in to your “Nintendo Network ID Account.” This was the 3DS/Wii U equivalent of the modern-day MyNintendo account that was used to tie purchases to your email.

Once you’ve linked your Switch with your Nintendo Network ID Account, you’re almost done! Next, go into the Switch eShop and click on the settings icon in the top right. Under the “Available Funds” section, you’ll see a little prompt saying “Merge Funds with Nintendo 3DS/Wii U.” Click this and you’ve done it! Now whenever you add funds to your Nintendo Switch eShop, they will also be available for use in the 3DS and Wii U eShops!

But which games are worth buying and what digital games will disappear forever once the store closes on March 27th? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are some essential pickups now that you’ve made it back into the 3DS and Wii U eShops:

The Best 3DS and Wii U Games to Buy Before It’s Too Late

Dr. Luigi (Wii U)

Released during the Year of Luigi — remember that? — This entry in the Doctor Mario franchise starred our favorite green-hatted plumber. On top of the standard Pill puzzling we all know and love, this title included the “Operation L” mode which utilized L-Shaped pills. As far as digital-only first-party Wii U games go there aren’t too many to pick from, but Doctor Luigi is a welcomed surprise — And just like Mario, don’t ask him where he got his doctorate.

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (3DS)

Intelligent Systems decided to go the Pokémon route and split the 14th entry in the Fire Emblem series into two different games: Fire Emblem Fates Birthright and Conquest. One had Corrin choose their birth family, the Hoshido, while the other chose their adopted family, the Nohr.

But a third Digital only route was available in Revelation. This path was only purchasable after completing Chapter 6. This route has you choosing neither family and instead opting to build your army from the shadows in order to take down the threat causing both families to fight in the first place. Arguably the best way to play the game once the 3DS eShop closes, this essential title in the franchise will become unavailable to fans.

Virtual Console – DS, Wii, TurboGrafx 16, Game Gear, DSi

Back before Nintendo Switch Online, we had the Virtual Console. A system where you could buy retro games on the eShop from an assortment of consoles.

As of March 2023, certain consoles are not yet available to play on the Nintendo Switch. On the Wii U, you have DS, Wii, and TurboGrafx-16 games including The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Animal Crossing Wild World, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Bomberman ’93.

For the 3DS you have Game Gear and DSi ware including Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, Shinobi, and Dragon Quest Wars.

Pushmo (3DS)

Pushmo is a classic from this era of Nintendo. Solve puzzles by Pushing and Pulling the stage itself in order to save the children at the top. There were a total of four games in this mini-franchise, all digital only, so if you enjoyed the first entry, we recommend trying them all out.

Pushmo was a unique puzzle game but still had many modern-day staples including level creation, which made this an incredibly hard-to-put-down title.

Dillon’s Rolling Western (3DS)

If you love tower defense games, Dillon’s Rolling Western is just for you. Monsters are invading towns in the Old West, and it’s your job as the armadillo Dillon to prevent their efforts. This game mixed action with exploration and was essential for 3DS owners. There were a few sequels, and Dillon even appeared in Smash.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U)

The next couple of games are available physically on the Wii U and 3DS but are gonna fetch you a pretty penny on the secondary market. So we recommend picking them up digitally.

First up is a game not yet on the Switch (hint hint Nintendo): The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. This is an essential play for die-hard Zelda fans, especially if you’re gearing up for the release of Tears of the Kingdom.

If you were able to get your hands on the Wolf Link Amiibo, there’s a special dungeon called The Cave of Shadows. The farther you make it in, the stronger Wolf Link gets once you scan him into Breath of the Wild. And if you didn’t know this was possible, then surprise!

All Mainline Pokémon Games

Consistently, Pokémon games will be expensive no matter what console you’re looking at. The 3DS is no exception with Pokémon X and Y, Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby, and the Sun and Moon games still fetching for just under retail price.

A great alternative to scavenging the secondary market is to pick up these titles digitally, so you can experience generations 6 and 7 without the worry of missing out on the series’ first mainline 3D titles. Sorry, Colosseum and Gale of Darkness, you don’t count.

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (3DS)

Now we’re getting into big-boy territory. When two of the greatest gaming detectives finally came together in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney. Little did they know that it would cost over $200 for a physical copy on the secondary market.

Turns out the biggest crime was these prices. This game has you solving crime puzzles like Layton and proving your defendant innocent like Wright. If you’re truly itching to try out this legendary collab, our recommendation is to save a court load of money and pick it up for $30 instead on the eShop.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

Every Xenoblade Chronicles game is playable on the Nintendo Switch… all but one. On the short-list of Wii U games that have not been ported to the Switch is one glaring outlier in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

This game is completely isolated from the other entries in the franchise. However, there are still many familiar elements. Taking place on the uncharted planet of Mira, you are able to create your own avatar to serve as the protagonist. With the physical copy going for just over $60 price today, digital might be a safer option to ensure you have this in your library.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS)

If you played the rereleases of Persona 3 Portable and 4 Golden, then you’re in for a treat. This handheld title followed characters from both games, dungeon crawling and fusing personas in a replica of Yasogami High School. You know, a typical high school day.

This game has a super cute art style, a killer soundtrack, and is only $20 bucks on the eShop. The sequel, Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, includes Persona 5 characters and is significantly more expensive than the first game, so pick these up if you want before physical is the only way.

Lastly, I wanted to remind you to download updates for every 3DS game you can! Even if you don’t own the title, you’re still able to download update data just in case you decide to buy a game physically. Each update is really small in storage size, so that shouldn’t be too big of an issue. That way you’re guaranteed to play the most up-to-date version of any game.

Are there any game recommendations that we missed? Sound off in the comments below and help out a fellow 3DS and Wii U owner. These two consoles’ libraries are so incredibly rich with hidden gems that a lot of great games had to be left off our list. Kid Icarus Uprising is my favorite game of all time, plus DLC exists, so be sure to pick up these games before the eShop closes on March 27th.

Kalani Goda Newman is a producer for IGN.

Poll: What Are Your Hype Levels for Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom?

Off the charts?

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is only 50 days away from its launch on May 12th, 2023 at the time of writing, and our hype levels here at Nintendo Life are through the roof.

Despite the fact that Nintendo is keeping the game very close to its chest (and if this is a concern for you, then our Video Producer Felix has the perfect remedy in the video above), Tears of the Kingdom is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games of the last few years; possibly the most anticipated since Breath of the Wild, depending on who you ask.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

7 Wonders Board Game Review (2023)

Civilization games have always been popular but they tend to be long and complex and thus hard to get to the table. 7 Wonders’ claim to fame is that it’s a card-based civilization game that you can teach and play to completion in well under an hour. Such is the appeal of this concept that since its release in 2010 it’s been showered with an endless parade of awards and sold so strongly that it’s had an overhaul reprint and a slew of expansions that have kept it relevant and popular to this day. It’s well on its way to becoming a classic board game.

What’s in the Box

Like a lot of high-concept card games, 7 Wonders comes in a big box that’s largely empty. The top layer of contents consists of two token punchboards, a rulebook and a pile of reference sheets. Beneath that there’s a storage tray that holds player boards, each printed with a different wonder of the world, a pad of scoring sheets, and some decks of cards.

Most of the space on the boards and cards is devoted to artwork, a pleasing blend of realism with a little bit of artistic licence.

See our picks for the best strategy board games.

If you’re wondering why a publisher would put such relatively meagre content into such a large box, the answer is marketing. Having a big box front makes your game stand out on the shelf, allowing it to compete with full-sized board games. And in terms of design and play testing, card games take just as much time and effort as board games of similar complexity so there’s an argument they ought to be treated on equal terms.

Rules and How it Plays

7 Wonders didn’t become popular purely because it condensed civilization games into a small space: on release, it was also very novel as one of the first games to make card drafting the core of proceedings. There are three ages to each game and at the start of each age, players get a handful of cards. They choose one to add to their civilization and then pass the rest to a neighbor, while they receive cards from their other neighbor. Then they choose a card from that selection, pass them on and so on until there’s only one card left.

The cards available vary by age but they all represent the trappings of a growing civilization. Age one cards provide things like raw materials and crafted goods alongside basic military and entertainment buildings, the latter of which score you victory points. By age two, most of the cards require that your civilization has some raw materials or goods available. 7 Wonders doesn’t track production: if you already have a card that produces something, it’s presumed available to help pay for other cards. Some structures can also be built for free if you have a prerequisite structure in the chain.

7 Wonders’ claim to fame is that it’s a card-based civilization game you can teach and play in well under an hour.

What if you don’t have the raw materials needed for a card? Well, if your neighbors produce it, you can give them coins to essentially “borrow” it for a turn. Getting coins is simply a matter of discarding a card on your turn instead of adding it to your civilization. This is one of the two small ways you can interact with other players in 7 Wonders, but it can be surprisingly effective. It’s painful to have to give up your cash to a competitor who’s doing well and in rare but vicious occasions you can starve your neighbour of a much-needed resource by simply choosing never to add it to your tableau.

The other, much simpler, interaction is through the military. At the end of every age, you compare how many military icons you have on your civilization’s cards with each neighbor. For each that has more than you, you lose a victory point. For each where you’re the victor, you gain points depending on the age, getting more as the game goes on. This is pretty toothless in terms of interaction but it can certainly swing games, especially the big age three bonuses.

In addition to the cards, each civilization starts with a wonder. Rather than playing cards or discarding them for coins, the third and final use is to use them to construct a stage of your wonder which, like card play, costs resources and offers rewards. Wonders, however, tend to have much higher requirements and much more impactful effects than cards. Most of them give you victory points or additional resources but some have more complex effects like building cards from the discard pile. The second edition has better-balanced wonders than the original, but they’re still not perfect.

Picking the right time to devote a card to your wonder isn’t straightforward: you need to trade off whether you’d rather play the card, whether you can afford it and what the possible ramifications are for future picks. And that, essentially, is the same smorgasbord of strategies you’ll be pondering on every card you play, deliciously varied with the shuffle on each game. It’s slick and strangely satisfying, especially the anticipation of waiting to see what might come around again, or fall into your lap in future ages. But it’s not especially demanding and that dichotomy is key to the success of 7 Wonders.

Wonders, however, tend to have much higher requirements and much more impactful effects than cards.

It’s also not particularly reliable or thematic. A lot comes down to luck of the draw or the luck of what other people choose to pass back to you, and there’s no sense that you’re building something coherent step by step. You can play the game with up to seven players and it barely takes any longer because the card drafting is simultaneous. But it works best at smaller player counts because otherwise any sense of being able to predict what might come around again is lost in the scrum. With its plethora of adding, checking and chaining buildings it’s also a lot less accessible than its bare-bones rules might make it seem.

Expansions

Due to the chaining rules that let you get certain cards for free, the expansions for 7 Wonders don’t actually mess very much with the card pool. Instead, each adds more wonders alongside a new board or mechanic that extends the game. While this approach adds interest and depth to the base game, it also reduces the accessibility that’s such an important part of its charm. So they’re very much an acquired taste and generally best reserved for seasoned fans.

Armadas is perhaps the best of them, although it’s also the most involved. It allows players to build ships which they can use to move and explore on a separate board in the hope of finding bonus resources. It also adds a second kind of military conflict where players total and compare their naval strength alongside the normal military from the core game.

Leaders and Cities are the two you’d most expect to see as expansions to a civilization-style game. The former offers a brief draft of leader cards before each age draft, which can give you more long-term strategic options to work with, in a primarily tactical game. The latter does add new cards to the main draft which have fun effects like avoiding the military race for one age or even making a neighbor lose coins. However, both also increase the amount of entropy in the game by adding more cards into the drafting mechanic that might or might not be an option for you just when you need them.

Edifice bills itself as a new expansion for the second edition but that’s not entirely true: it’s more of a distillation of the best bits of the Babel expansion for the previous edition. Alongside two new wonders it gives each age a “project,” a sort of vanity project that all the players can contribute to. You can do this only when you build a wonder stage and also have the necessary resources required by the project on top of those needed for your wonder. This gains you a pawn from the project and there are always fewer pawns than players.

If all the pawns are taken, the project is finished and all those who contributed get the printed reward. If it isn’t, then anyone who failed to contribute instead gets a victory point penalty. Of all the expansions, Edificies is the one that changes the feel of the game the most, giving it a much more concrete sense of interaction. There’s a clear race, with an attendant sense of urgency, within each age and it adds to the tactical timing of your decisions, too. It does so without excessive additional rules or randomness. So it’s a neat addition to the lineup, but it might be almost too transformative for newer players.

Where to Buy

Fortnite Creative 2.0 Teams Are Already Rushing to Remake the Original Fortnite Chapter

The race is on to recreate Fortnite’s original map using the popular battle royale’s newly revamped Creative Mode.

The teams are using the brand-new Unreal Editor for Fortnite — also known as Fortnite Creative 2.0 — which is a new add-on available for Fortnite on PC. As discussed during yesterday’s State of Unreal event, the Unreal Editor for Fortnite is for players to use for “designing, developing, and publishing games and experiences directly into Fortnite.”

The new tool runs in Unreal Engine 5 and builds on concepts from the existing Fortnite Creative toolset, adding new features for expanded custom content, modeling, textures, VFX, and more. It’s a total game changer for Fortnite creators, and we’re already starting to see some of the possibilities take shape.

Right after the Unreal Editor for Fortnite reveal, multiple teams started working to put the finishing touches on recreations of Fortnite’s original island.

One team, called Atlas OG Battle Royale, has already released a recration of the original Fortnite island.

Another team, called Reboot Royale, posted a video with footage from the new Unreal Editor, saying they were in the “the final preparations of publishing Reboot Royale for everyone to play.” The development screenshots and gameplay footage are an exciting proof-of-concept for Fortnite players about just how robust the new creation tools are.

The Fortnite Chapter 1 map features locations like Greasy Grove, Pleasant Park, Retail Row, Fatal Fields, and more. The map was heavily updated and altered throughout Chapter 1’s 10 seasons, before Chapter 2 introduced an entirely new map.

Chapter 1 ended in late 2019, meaning it’s been years since fans have romped around the map responsible for Fortnite’s rise to popularity. It’s sure to be a nostalgic ride for anyone checking out either of these recreations.

For more, check out everything else announced during yesterday’s Unreal event.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The Best PS5 SSD Deals for 2023: 2TB SSDs from Crucial, WD, Samsung, and More Starting at $123

2023 might finally be the year where 2TB PS5 SSDs might actually be worth the upgrade. Last year, prices for 1TB PS5 SSDs averaged around $150, whereas 2TB SSDs hovered closer to $300. This year, we’re seeing 1TB SSDs trickle below the $100 price point and 2TB SSDs are under $200. The reason PS5 SSD upgrades are pricey is that you can’t use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You’ll want to pick up an PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive with a rated 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive. That means, for better or for worse, picking a top-shelf SSD.

Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD. Not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (we recommend this one for $10) and install it yourself. It’s very easy.

Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for PS5 for $122.99

Constantly going in and out of stock

Crucial’s newest M.2 SSD meets all the requirements for your PS5 SSD upgrade. It supports transfer speeds of up to 6,660MB/s which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. Yes there are faster SSDs out there, but if your intention is to put this in your PS5, then that extra speed is worthless because you’re bottlenecked by the original PS5 SSD. If you’re worried about opening up your PS5 case, don’t worry it’s very easy. Crucial has an official YouTube PS5 SSD install guide to see you through the process.

Samsung 1TB PS5 SSD for $79.99

Samsung SSDs need no introduction. They’ve made some of the most popular and reliable PS5 SSDs on the market. The 980 Pro has been out for a while now, but it’s still one of Samsung’s fastest M.2 PCIe SSD, with only the newly released 990 Pro being faster. It is fully PS5 compatible in terms of form factor and performance, with blistering speeds of up to 7,100MB/s. It goes toe to toe with other well-known options like the WD Black SN850 and the Seagate Firecuda 530.

WD 2TB PS5 SSD from $159.99

Amazon is offering a 2TB WD Black SN850X with preinstalled heatsink for only $179.99. The SN850X is the successor to the SN850 SSD. It has newer flash chips (BiCS5 vs BiCS4) and an updated firmware, which combined offer improved sequential and random read/write speeds. For PC gamers, there’s also an updated Game Mode 2.0 utility that’s designed to tune the SSD for better performance during gaming sessions.

Corsair MP600 PRO LPX 2TB “Optimized for PS5” SSD with Heatsink for Only $154.99

Corsair is a very well known brand for DIY PC builders. Corsair makes some of the best gaming products on the market, and that includes solid-state memory like RAM and SSDs. The MP600 Pro is the same super-fast M.2 NVMe PCIe x4 Gen4 SSD that’s marketed for enthusiast gaming PC builds. This one is “optimized for PS5” because it includes a rugged preinstalled heatsink that is slim enough to fit in the PS5 bay without any issues. Performance wise, the MP600 Pro matches the best SSDs out there with its 7,100MB/sec sequential read and 6,800MB/sec sequential write speeds.

Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB PS5 SSD for $142.99

Amazon is offering the Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x 4 Internal Gaming Solid State Drive, which is compatible with the PS5 console, for only $142.99. This makes it definitely the lowest price we’ve seen for a brand name 2TB PS5 SSD, especially since this one even includes a slim aluminum heatshield. The VP4300 is an M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 solid state drive with rated transfer speeds of 7,400MB/s read and 6,800MB/s write. That makes it well above the PS5’s recommended 5,600MB/s speed requirement.

More PS5 SSD Deals

There may be other SSD deals out there, but these are the PS5 SSDs we’ve tried ourselves and highly recommend. They also double up as outstanding boot drives for your gaming PC, in case you don’t need additional storage for your PS5 console.

How easy is it to install the SSD?

It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.

What if the SSD I bought doesn’t have a heatsink?

Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for about $10 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.

For more deals, take a look at our daily deals for today.

After 20 years, Final Fantasy 11 is heading into maintenance mode

Final Fantasy 14 swept over the MMO landscape, there was 2002’s Final Fantasy 11 Online. I wasn’t really away that Final Fantasy 11 was still running, but the MMO has been chugging along quietly for a few years – its last expansion having arrived in 2013. After 20 years of support, however, Square Enix is putting Final Fantasy 11 in maintenance mode, meaning servers will stay up and it’ll remain playable, but with limited support.

Read more

Acclaimed TMNT Graphic Novel ‘The Last Ronin’ Is Getting A Video Game

No dates or platforms announced.

A brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game based on The Last Ronin, the 2020 graphic novel miniseries, is currently in development. Doug Rosen, Paramount Global’s senior vice president for games and emerging media, confirmed this in an interview with Polygon.

The Last Ronin is a critically-acclaimed graphic novel in the TMNT series which is set in the future and stars only one of the turtles — all of the others have since been exterminated, including Splinter (we won’t tell you which turtle has survived, of course). The miniseries spans five issues between 2020 and 2022, and was written by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, and Andy Kuhn, with art from Kuhn and Ben Bates, who’s known for contributing to Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comics.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Experience Driving Made Awesome With The Open-World Adventure of LEGO 2K Drive

Summary

  • LEGO 2K Drive is an all-new, open-world driving adventure coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
  • Cruise around the huge open world of Bricklandia in awesome transforming vehicles that let you drive across Street, Off-Road, and Water terrains! Explore multiple biomes, compete in races, complete quests, and build new rides!
  • Pre-order LEGO 2K Drive on the Xbox Store now ahead of the launch on May 19

Welcome to Bricklandia, home of a massive open-world driving adventure in LEGO 2K Drive! This all-new AAA LEGO driving game is coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on May 19 and is now available for pre-order.

Developed by Visual Concepts as part of a multi-title partnership between 2K and the LEGO Group, LEGO 2K Drive lets you race anywhere, play with anyone, build your dream rides, and defeat a cast of wild racing rivals in your quest for the coveted Sky Cup Trophy. This is driving made awesome.

In LEGO 2K Drive, your transforming vehicle gives you the freedom to speed seamlessly across Street, Off-Road, and Water terrains as you explore the vast landscape of Bricklandia.

The unique biomes of Bricklandia are rich with personality and exhilarating challenges, with tons to see and discover as you cruise around, compete in races, meet colorful characters, complete quests, collect treasures, and build new rides! The world is packed with LEGO humor and carefree fun, with lighthearted commentary provided by Awesome News Network anchors Vikki Wheeler and Parker Carr.

LEGO 2K Drive‘s expansive Story mode follows your journey from rookie roadster to renowned champion, with the ultimate goal of winning a Grand Brix Cup hosted on tracks among the clouds to claim the coveted Sky Cup Trophy. But to be the best, you’ll have to prove yourself against a series of rival racers and eventually triumph over the infamous Shadow Z, a braggadocious villain who doesn’t want to share the road with anyone. As you claim victory in more races and complete events throughout Bricklandia, you’ll unlock new areas and level up your License Class for additional abilities and extra speed.

Outside of the Story mode, which you can enjoy solo or in two-player splitscreen co-op, you can also jump straight to action with the single track Race and Cup Series tournament modes, or let loose in off-the-wall Minigames. Speaking of co-op multiplayer, you can roam across Bricklandia in a party of up to six pals in the Play With Friends online mode—and if you’re looking for some friendly competition, Play With Everyone mode lets you take on racers around the world to see who’s the fastest.

Drivers of all skill levels will have a blast cruising around Bricklandia, but LEGO 2K Drive‘s deep mechanics make it easy to learn and tough to master. The pick-up-and-play accessibility is great for younger audiences, while experienced drivers can go for the fastest times with clever use of exciting power-ups and techniques like drifting, boosting, quickturns, and even instantaneous jumps. Your drives can be as casual or competitive as you like!

When you’re not behind the wheel, unleash your creativity in the Garage, where building Street, Off-Road, and Water vehicles is as easy as snapping bricks together. Construct new cars and boats from scratch, modify any vehicle in your collection, or unwind by following guided builds, then take your creation for a spin. There are tons of customization options in the Garage, from individual brick shapes and paint jobs to finer details like the sounds of your horn and engine. Using Brickbux earned via gameplay, you can also unlock new vehicles, brick types, flairs, and more for your growing collection.

LEGO 2K Drive is available for pre-order as LEGO 2K Drive Standard Edition, LEGO 2K Drive Awesome Edition, and LEGO 2K Drive Awesome Rivals Edition, with the latter two editions offering bonus content packs and the Year 1 Drive Pass* featuring four seasons of post-launch content. Pre-order LEGO 2K Drive on the Xbox Store today and prepare to put the pedal to the plastic on May 19!

*Year 1 Drive Pass included with 2K Drive Awesome Edition and Awesome Rivals Edition. Also available for individual purchase. Base game required. For digital orders, Year 1 Drive Pass content will be automatically delivered in-game upon release. For physical orders, Year 1 Drive Pass content will be delivered via a code in box to be redeemed in game and available upon release. More details on the Year 1 Drive Pass will be shared in the future.


LEGO® 2K Drive Awesome Edition
Xbox Live

LEGO® 2K Drive Awesome Edition

2K

☆☆☆☆☆
★★★★★

$99.99
Pre-order

The Awesome Edition includes LEGO® 2K Drive for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Welcome to Bricklandia, home of a massive open-world LEGO® driving adventure. Race anywhere, play with anyone, build your dream rides, and defeat a cast of wild racing rivals for the coveted Sky Trophy!

THE ULTIMATE LEGO DRIVING EXPERIENCE
Get behind the wheel and gear up for tons of open-world exploration and thrilling races! Take on the exciting Story mode, jump into a single race or Cup Series tourneys, and let loose in off-the-wall minigames. Master the art of drifting, boosting, jumping, and using power-ups to defeat opponents!

RACE FOR THE SKY TROPHY
Story mode follows your journey from rookie racer to famous champion as you compete against a series of charismatic rivals. With each victory, you’ll work your way up the ranks to take on the infamous Shadow Z.

OPEN-WORLD EXPLORATION
The vast and vibrant world of Bricklandia is yours to explore as you see fit, full of colorful characters and kooky quests. Zoom past lush fields on Turbo Acres’ pavement, go off-roading in the deserts of Big Butte County, cruise across Prospecto Valley’s picturesque waterways, and more.

UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY
Building vehicles in the Garage is as easy as snapping bricks together. Construct new cars and boats from scratch, modify any vehicle in your collection, or unwind with guided builds, then take your creation for a drive!

PLAY TOGETHER AT HOME AND ONLINE
Roam around Bricklandia in local splitscreen or join your driving buddies online!

THERE’S MORE AWESOME IN THE AWESOME EDITION
LEGO 2K Drive Awesome Edition includes:
– Aquadirt Racer Pack
– Year 1 Drive Pass: Includes Season 1, 2, 3 and 4 DLC packs. the Awesome Pizza Vehicle. Release timing of the DLC contents will be revealed at a future date.
– 550 Coins
– Awesome Bonus Pack: Includes Wheelie Stunt Driver Minifigure, Machio Beast Vehicle and a Vehicle Flair.
– 3 Day Early Access

Related:
“When Everyone Reduces Emissions, Everyone on the Planet Wins” – Explaining Xbox’s New Game Development Sustainability Tools
Find Your Elite: How There’s an Xbox Elite Controller for Everyone
Pleased To Eat You! Discover All You Need To Know About Dead Island 2’s Zombies

C-Smash VRS: demo out today, PS VR2 features detailed

Greetings, fellow Cosmonauts! Thank you for tuning into this exciting new announcement. In our first PS blog post, we announced our reimagining of Sega’s arcade and console icon for Single, Co-Op and Versus gameplay – only on PlayStation VR2. The response has been overwhelming.

Today, as promised, we’re launching a free playable demo.

You will be able to pre-order the game at a discount before the full game launches on June 23 2023.

Our game is being crafted by a veritable dream team of developers, artists and musicians scattered all over our little blue ball spinning around in a remote corner of the galaxy – and your support means the world to us. In the meantime, allow us to tell you a bit more about what’s in store – both in the demo and in the full release.

What’s in the demo?

Tutorial

When you first load up the game, you are transported straight into the world of C-Smash VRS. The game is designed to be easy to pick up and play, so you can feel at one with your virtual body and at ease in a stylish space at the edge of time.

C-Smash VRS feels natural. In a few quick steps, the Tutorial gives you some guidance and general tips to play. Don’t forget to learn the Trick Smash, designed to attract the hard-to-reach high balls and hit the ball with larger-than-life power and precision.

A feature to note – if you want to switch hands, you can do so in the menu – left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous, we’ve got you sorted!

Training

While most training modes are there to teach, this single player mode is a fun, engaging and absorbing challenge.

Smash blocks of different strengths, improve your score and enjoy the dynamic music.

The arena is built of a grid of dots that pulse and ripple with gameplay. This is reflected in the hand and head vibrations, making you feel the impact of a well-timed return as well as the ripple of a missed shot as it returns, ready to serve.

A crisp and beautiful cosmos awaits, the PSVR 2’s OLED display bringing the minimal but vivid color palette to life. Design has never felt more physical and present.

The Training mode gives you a small taste of the full release’s Journey mode, which you will also be able to play Co-Op with a friend. Which brings us to our Demo’s multiplayer mode:

Versus

Play with a friend or face off against players from across the planet.*

Using PlayStation Activity Cards, players not already playing the game, can jump straight in to join friends in multiplayer sessions. Hook up with a friend in the ‘Cosmic Shuttle’ and head out to play Clash, the fast-paced multiplayer VS mode included in the demo.

The aim is to smash the other player’s blocks and protect your own.

The power and speed of PlayStation 5 allows for instant transition into matches with your next rematch only seconds away!

You can play C-Smash VRS seated or standing – the game adjusts players’ heights automatically. We don’t want anyone to feel disadvantaged or left behind.

Unlike many other sports and online games, C-Smash VRS is designed to make you feel good, even when you “lose”.

The great Ken Ishii (Rez Infinite) and Danalogue (front man of The Comet is Coming and Soccer 96) have each written a great soundtrack with dynamic, totally transportive tracks for the game. Never have sport and music felt so good together.

In an ideal world, you’ll never realize you’ve just had the best workout – alone or with a friend – because it feels so much like a night out. In space.

What’s coming?

The demo is a small glimpse at our game, which will have an epic Journey mode, a sweat and joy inducing Infinity mode, and a variety of Co-Op and Versus modes.

We also have more features mapped for the full title, including a 3D audio soundscape and fully using adaptive triggers.

We can’t wait for you to see you in the demo – and look forward to taking you to new dimensions when the full game releases on June 23 2023.

* PlayStation Plus required for online play.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Is a Tale of Two Smeagols

If you’re anything like me, when you first heard that a game set in the Lord of the Rings universe following the exploits of Smeagol was being developed, you were skeptical. Though vital to the story of Middle Earth’s conflict with Sauron, he’s largely a one note antagonist who is present for as long as necessary throughout the books, and no longer. At least that’s what I thought going in. But my brief time with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum makes a solid first argument that the lost journey of the third “hobbit” could be just as interesting as Frodo and Bilbo’s. Much of the new story blends seamlessly into the well-established lore, but it’s Smeagol’s relationship with his suppressed alter ego that keeps the journey compelling.

A big selling point for me was the possibility of following the footsteps of Middle Earth’s greatest misfit and watching him duel with himself. The body of the man is piloted by two minds, the naive and placid Sméagol and the selfish and malicious Gollum. Whenever he’s guided to make a choice, they’re usually from either perspective. Does Sméagol answer a question honestly and earnestly, or does Gollum lie and insult the inquirer? The developers told me that these choices do add up, and eventually you’ll find yourself in positions where one personality will dominate the conversation based on your preference of one over the other.

This isn’t a standard morality system as you’ve seen in games like Mass Effect, as not every choice Sméagol makes will keep him out of trouble. Sometimes the obsessive self interest of Gollum will keep him out of chains. This expresses itself in interesting ways while you explore the world too. In one chapter, you’re escorted into a spooky keep somewhere in Mordor by an imposing orc. He walks back to his post and gives you strict orders to stand still and wait for a gong. A good Sméagol would have nervously waited, but as a shifty little Gollum I attempted to escape. He’s quite the climber, with the platforming feeling largely like the Uncharted variety of ledge grabbing, vine scaling, and acrobatic swing jumping. It was a little jarring at first to see him move so video game-ly, considering my impression of the character established from the books and movies, but after a while his almost supernatural scampering feels right. This mixed with its approach to combat – to discourage it at every turn in favor of stealth and trap laying – combined to lock you into a style of play that feels appropriate for the sort of creature who lives in the shadows of bigger, scarier things and lives to tell the tale.

This isn’t a standard morality system as you’ve seen in games like Mass Effect, as not every choice Sméagol makes will keep him out of trouble.

At the end of the above section, after traipsing over jagged scaffoldings and tip-toeing through laboratories and offices full of very important and conspiratorial looking objects, I met a creeper named Candle Man. His poise and intimidation factor made him right at home on the cliffs of Mt. Doom, so I assumed this was a character from a book I’d missed like The Silmarillion. I was corrected by Damiri Knapheide, Loremaster to the Daedalic development team, who assured me that he and several characters I had met in the roughly hour-long demo were creations for this story. Established characters like Gandalf the Grey make an appearance as well and are written and performed in a way that feels spot on to the characters we know and love.

Does all this make a cohesive experience that justifies taking another trip into the well-worn territory? There isn’t enough in the demo to be certain, but The Lord of the Rings: Gollum does at least make a good first impression, outlining a solid case for piloting one of the strangest and yet most important characters in the lore. Hopefully the final product, launching on May 25th for PC and consoles, melds the split personality choices, parkour, stealth, and story into a project you won’t want to throw into a volcano.