Epic have outlined their 2024 plans for the Epic Games Store, which includes a new download manager, a proper offline mode, pre-loading of games, and a focus on game discovery in general.
These plans were outlined in the store’s 2023 year-in-review, which paints a mixed picture of Epic’s storefront’s growth over the past 12 months.
It’s finally the weekend, and Saturday has brought some new and exciting deals to explore for the weekend! Starting off, Best Buy has huge savings on the GoPro HERO11 Black Camera and Nintendo Switch titles, while Amazon has a sweet discount on the latest Assassin’s Creed title. Below, we’ve compiled the best deals available for Saturday, February 17. Take advantage of these offers before it’s too late!
The GoPro HERO11 Black is one of the best action cameras on the market. It’s fit for absolutely any task, with no obstacles in your way to capture any type of footage you’d like. Filming video at 5.3K, you can expect a level of quality you won’t be able to achieve on other action cameras or any type of smartphone. At $399.99, this is an incredible deal that gets you the HERO11 Black and plenty of mods to attach to your camera.
If you’ve yet to check out the latest Fire Emblem title, Best Buy has an ongoing sale that will save you up to $30 on Fire Emblem Engage. Featuring characters from the entire series, Engage was released last year as the seventeenth mainline title in the Fire Emblem series. With a solid discount like this, now is a great time to check out the game.
Amazon currently has Assassin’s Creed Mirage available for just $29.99. Ubisoft looked to take the series back to its roots for this release with a classic setting and refreshed gameplay mechanics. You can expect an action title with plenty of stealth abilities to sneak around its map. If you’re an Assassin’s Creed fan who has felt burnt out with recent entries, Mirage is a refreshing change of pace. We gave the game an 8/10 in our review, stating the game is “a successful first step in returning to the stealthy style that launched this series.”
One of the most popular multiplayer titles you can find on Switch, Splatoon 3 is packed with all sorts of exciting modes you can spend dozens of hours in. The title improves a vast amount of features from Splatoon 2, while also bringing in some fresh new ideas too. You can find new classes, new weapons, and new maps immediately when hopping in. With the Side Order expansion set to release next month, now is the perfect time to hop in and get familiar with the world of Splatoon.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an essential Nintendo Switch game. Featuring a revolutionary open world, hundreds of hours await for you to explore each area across the map. By regaining control of the four legendary Divine Beasts, you might be able to stop Calamity Ganon and save both the Kingdom of Hyrule and Princess Zelda. If you’re a new Nintendo Switch owner, pick this up while you can for a discount.
The JBL Clip 3 is currently on sale for $39.99, which is a discount of $30. JBL Bluetooth speakers are known for their excellent sound quality, and this is no exception. With the portability of the Clip 3, you can attach it to a backpack, cooler, or bag with ease. Bring this with you on your next vacation or day trip for up to ten hours of listening without a charge.
Any Nintendo Switch owner should check out The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. This remake of the classic Game Boy title features a beautiful overworld filled with puzzles and dungeons to explore. To find the Wind Fish, you’ll need all the help you can get. At $40, this is a fantastic price we don’t see too often for one of Nintendo’s biggest IP. My Best Buy Plus members can even save an additional $10!
Fate/Samurai Remnant is a release that went under the radar for many last year. The title is a collaboration between Type-Moon, Omega Force, and Koei Tecmo. If you’re a fan of Fate, you’ll notice plenty of familiar characters throughout the game, including Musashi, Gilgamesh, and plenty more! This is a fantastic action RPG experience that’s especially worth picking up at $40.
As ranked by you.
Some people might understandably associate the Tomb Raider series, like WipeOut and Crash Bandicoot, with PlayStation. Lara Croft shot to prominence as the poster girl of gaming in the lad-mag era of the late-’90s and feels forever tied to the cultural gaming cornerstone that is Sony’s debut console.
However, Core Design’s original game launched for Sega Saturn and PC, too, and while Sony negotiated console exclusivity for the sequel, the series has appeared on practically every game platform made since the turn of the millennium, including Nintendo platforms. And with the release of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered on Switch, we’re finally able to enjoy Lara’s original adventures in their original form (almost).
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Sony believes the PlayStation 5 is now in the “latter half of its life cycle.”
That’s according to Sony’s senior vice president Naomi Matsuoka, who made the comments following the company’s revision of how many PS5s it expects to sell during the current financial year (down from 25 million to 21 million) as well as Sony’s most recent earnings report and a weaker than expected holiday 2023 quarter. So obviously the question now is: When can we expect the PlayStation 6?
Before diving into that question, I feel like I should first ask what is going on with this console generation? Never mind what’s happening over on the Xbox side of things, and that Nintendo is now so firmly marching to the beat of its own drum that it no longer aligns with either Sony or Microsoft when it comes to console launches. But where has the time gone?
2023 felt like the first truly normal year for this current game generation, with PlayStation 5s readily available after two years of severe shortages and scalping. The worldwide pandemic wreaking havoc on the global supply chain gave both PlayStation 5s and Xbox Series X|S a false start for sure. Nevertheless, it seemed that as far as product launches go, 2023 was the first year in the rest of our Gen 9 lives, and there was a tsunami of great games to go along with it. Fast-forward a couple of months and now suddenly we’re effectively halfway through Gen 9? Time didn’t just fly, it jumped through hyperspace.
We’re now four years into the PlayStation 5 and there’s a strong precedent which indicates the PlayStation 6 will be targeting a 2027 launch. Why? Because that’s about as much time as it took for the previous three generations of consoles. The PlayStation 2 was released in 2000 and was followed six years later by the PlayStation 3. The PS3 was released in 2006 and was followed seven years later by the PlayStation 4. The PS4 was released in 2013 and was followed, you guessed it, seven years later by the PlayStation 5.
If it walks like seven years and quacks like seven years, chances are new PlayStations are released every seven or so years.
How much stock can we take in this trend though? Could this be the generation to eschew this historical precedent? Well, unfortunately, without having a first-hand look at PlayStation’s internal release schedule, patterns and historical precedent are what we’re left with.
“We are expecting the PS5 Pro to be released in late 2024 — a year later than the equivalent PS4 Pro in its lifecycle,” Omdia senior analyst George Jijiashvili tells IGN. “With that logic, we believe Sony is looking to extend PS5’s life cycle, with PS6 most likely to launch in 2028.”
However, Jijiashvili acknowledges that depending on demand, which Sony themselves admit is weakening, “Sony may decide to pull the PS6 launch forward.”
One note he adds is that “the console cycle as we know it has become increasingly blurred; PS4 is still punching above its weight due to its healthy active installed base.” Furthermore, even if the PS6 launches in 2027, Jijiashvili expects the PS5 to continue to have “several years left in it post-PS6 launch,” indicating the trend of releasing major games like God of War and Horizon Forbidden West across two generations of consoles (which was accelerated by the PS4 to PS5 handoff) will likely continue.
“I do have PlayStation 6 in my forecast for 2027. But that’s just because this has been the established cadence,” NPD’s Mat Piscatella tells IGN over email. “Could it be later? Sure. Could it be sooner? Yep. But, since I have no better information to go on, and because the track record has been established, 2027 is where I have it.”
That we’re halfway through the PS5’s life cycle wouldn’t be too alarming if it weren’t for the second Sony statement that there will be no first-party content released in the financial year 2024. Meaning the likely sequels to Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West, or games like Wolverine will not be seen until next year after March 2025 (The fiscal year is typically from March to March). If we’re still thinking of 2027 as a potential release year for the PS6, that leaves just three years left of dedicated PS5 support before moving to the next console.
And so, finally, where does that leave us? Well, Immortality director Sam Barlow hit the nail on the head when he tweeted, “Lol, I just got one. In terms of the games it feels like this generation hasn’t really got started yet??”
Lol I just got one. In terms of the games it feels like this generation hasn’t really got started yet?? https://t.co/egnGqJtYZ4
— Sam Barlow 🔥 IMMORTALITY (@mrsambarlow) February 14, 2024
My gut tells me that we’re in a bit of uncharted territory right now. Console makers certainly weren’t planning around a global pandemic, but beyond that it’s been a weird generation so far with lots of great games coming to both PS5 and PS4. The Switch has now thrived across two console generations, and Xbox is planning on expanding beyond the borders of its own hardware, albeit not as dramatically as some previously expected.
Normally we’d begin hearing talks of the next-generation about two years before the official launch, but Xbox’s Sarah Bond kickstarted those talks early in the company’s Update on the Business podcast. And Sony has also vaguely touched on it with Matsuoka’s comments about entering the latter half of the PS5’s life cycle.
If you haven’t hopped onto this generation of consoles yet and purchased a PS5, well, if you want my two cents, 2027 isn’t as far away as you think.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
We would never steer you wrong.
In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you’d find all the weird goofs that we couldn’t fit in anywhere else. Some may call it “filler”; we prefer “a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag”.
We don’t have pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes — so welcome to our semi-regular feature, Back Page. This one’s about cows.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Every DK game, as ranked by you.
Update: To celebrate the 10th anniversary of DKC: Tropical Freeze and the return of DK (and his rivalry with Mario) to Switch in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, we’re overhauling our Best DK Games list, switching it to a reader-ranked format.
That’s right, the list below is now governed by each game’s User Rating in our database and subject to real-time change even after publication. Read on to find out more and see if Tropical Freeze, our original pick for number one, is still top banana…
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
While many have been expecting and hoping for the Nintendo Switch 2 to arrive later this year, new reports suggest the much-anticipated console has been delayed until the “early months of 2025.”
As reported by Bloomberg, VGC, and Eurogamer, sources claim Nintendo has been telling game publishers that the Switch 2 was originally planned to be released at the end of 2024 but is now expected to slip to “March 2025 at the earliest.”
If this proves to be true, it will be an interesting year for the original Switch which recently passed 139.36 million units sold. As it stands on the first-party front, we only know of such heavy hitters as Princess Peach: Showtime on March 22 and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake later this year.
If those last two games are anything to go by, it could be a big year for remakes and remasters as Nintendo prepares new entries of its beloved franchises for the Switch 2. Many, including myself, will surely be hoping for the HD versions of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess to finally jump from Wii U to Switch.
“Nintendo is likely looking at a pretty dry pipeline this year,” Tokyo-based analyst Serkan Toto told Bloomberg. “The company will still try to keep the blockbusters for the next console, so 2024 might see more remakes of old Nintendo hits. In any case, 2024 will be a lot tougher for Nintendo without a new device.”
Hopefully, Nintendo’s 2024 release schedule will come a little more into focus with the rumored February Direct. Nintendo has a history of dropping Directs in February, so there is a good chance one will arrive soon or in March.
Anything can happen with Nintendo, and plans change all the time, so it’s important to remember that nothing is set in stone.
For more, check out our review of the recently released Mario vs. Donkey Kong, what else we can expect from Nintendo in 2024 and if we think there is a future for amiibo on Switch 2.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
The GBA title is back.
Apart from the arrival of the Smash Bros. Sora amiibo this week, Nintendo has also revived Mario vs. Donkey Kong for Switch.
This one is a bit different to the average new release because it’s a remake of the 2004 Game Boy Advance title with a few new worlds, co-op mode and a new casual difficulty setting. We rather enjoyed the Switch version, but we’re now curious to know if our community will be picking it up.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Get ’em while you can.
Alongside the launch of Sora and the arrival of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Version 13.0.2 this week, Nintendo appears to have restocked multiple amiibo on its official store in the US.
As highlighted by ‘Amiibo News’ on social media, these restocks include Smash Bros. fighters like Sephiroth (Final Fantasy), Mega Man, and even Metal Gear Solid‘s Snake. Each one will set you back $15.99. Unfortunately, some have already sold out!
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Hi, everyone! Wynn here again. Welcome back to another Xbox Insider Team interview. Today we’re sitting down with Tyler—a Technical Program Manager who focuses on the commerce and subscriptions side of the business. How’re we doing today, Tyler?
Feeling great, Wynn. Excited to chat with our Xbox Insider Community.
Fantastic. Let’s start by giving everyone a little background on yourself.
Diving right in, eh? Okay. So, I’m a little bit the “typical” Seattle tech guy. Completely native to the area, raised right here with Microsoft always in the backyard so I’ve always been impressed/inspired by the company.
So, Microsoft—even before your employment—has been a pretty big constant.
Yeah, it comes with the territory a little. My whole life has always been in Seattle. My wife and I are raising our daughter here, my entire family is here, and so it’s always seemed like a natural fit for my circumstances.
When did you end up starting?
It would’ve been back in early 2007. I got brought on in the Customer Support org for Windows and Office. I spent a few years there before moving to work in CS for Xbox.
Ah, another longtime Xbox worker on the team.
Kind of? Haha. I actually had a few different stops along the way. I went back to Windows for a bit, then dabbled with Inside Sales, before going back to Xbox Support in 2019 and then, finally, Xbox Insider Team in 2021.
Oh, wow! I’m actually previous Inside Sales as well. Spent three years in the Fargonian tundra selling Azure.
Sales is brutal sometimes man. I knew it wasn’t really for me after my time there.
Agreed on that.
So, you’re a bit of a newer member of Xbox Insider Team, and I know a lot of your work is sort of behind-the-scenes / under-the-hood. Is there anything you’ve worked on that you’re super proud of?
Absolutely! I think the subscription aspect might be interesting to people. Helping launch Game Pass Ultimate was really cool. I’m also proud of our market expansion work, like bringing PC Game Pass to Southeast Asia. It’s incredibly rewarding to see both Game Pass and Insiders grow as a result.
Yeah, that’s excellent. I don’t think anyone’s complaining about more Game Pass.
Is there anything you’re currently working on you can share with us for the 10th Anniversary?
Unfortunately, most of my day to day falls firmly under the “not for public consumption” label. But I am working on some regular Game Pass Ultimate stuff and with things like EA Play and Ubisoft+, which is pretty awesome. You can bet I’m always working to make our experiences better based on what we’re hearing!
I’m sure everyone will love to hear that!
But let’s move out of the realm of work and to some more of your personal interests. What’re some of your fondest gaming memories?
Oh man. There’s so many. I mean, my first console was an NES, and I can still vividly remember opening that with the Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt combo pack.
Bring back the Zapper! I want to blow a new generation of minds with the paper trick.
It was such a unique concept back then. It’s still wild how that was so popular. After NES, I picked up an SNES and played entirely too much Super Mario Kart. In a weird way, Duck Hunt and Super Mario Kart kind of informed my future tastes because my two favorite genres are shooters and racers. Though I’m definitely more of a sim-racer now.
I just can’t manage sim-racers. I remember playing Gran Turismo 3 A-spec on PS2 and I think I made it like 3 races deep. I gotta have that arcade-y feel. Like, Blur is my favorite racing game ever.
Haha. Totally understand. Man, you just took me back with A-Spec. I played so much of that game on my PS2.
Another game that holds a special place for me is Ocarina of Time. I played through that with my dad and being able to experience that game—from the jump in 3D to just how meticulously it was designed—with him is something I’ll always cherish.
We’ve had a few different “gaming stories with parents” on here and I absolutely love them every time.
Okay, let’s talk music. You grew up in Seattle, so I assume you’ve seen some of the greats?
Oh man. Hah. I’m almost a little embarrassed to admit it, but I was really into rap/hip-hop through most of my formative years. Dr. Dre, Eminem, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, OutKast, stuff like that. I didn’t really get into the alternative scene until after I had graduated college, so I missed all those shows.
Wow. My entire upbringing was around alt music. My dad was heavy into college radio, so he had plenty of deep cuts that weren’t super big. Throwing Muses, Jellyfish, Tripp Shakespeare. Like, everyone knows “Good” by Better Than Ezra, but I had listened to an entire album before that.
Yeah, I missed that whole initial wave. But, now that I’m more into the alternative and indie side of things, I’ve found a ton of great local music around Seattle. Like, my wife and I just recently went to see The Head and the Heart for the millionth time, and they were fantastic.
There we go. That’s your “we liked them before they were cool” band.
Exactly! I still have some Seattle cred.
I’m that way with a few of the mid-to-late 2000s “scene” bands. Like, I have the first piece of merch that Sleeping With Sirens ever sold, signed by the entire band, and then they’re selling out venues and amphitheaters around the world.
All right. I could talk music literally forever. Let’s move on to the golden/silver screens. Is there a show you always have on in the background?
Oh, like Crews? [Note For Reader: Crews is another member of the Xbox Insider Team.]
Haha. That’s exactly who I was thinking about when I drafted this question.
Man, I’ve fully succumbed to the streaming backlog here. I hardly ever re-watch stuff because there’s so much coming out or catching up on. Recently I’ve been enjoying Reacher though.
Big dude solves problems by being the biggest dude, you gotta love it.
Exactly. It’s really well done and close enough to the books. It’s just fun.
Do you have any hobbies outside of the comfort of the home?
Definitely. Skiing is maybe my favorite thing in the world. It’s an almost spiritual experience for me to be out there. Really just being in the mountains is deeply personal to me. Hiking, skiing, camping. Anything out in nature to give me that mental reset.
I like the idea of nature more than I like being outside in it. But I will say, some of my favorite experiences with that sort of thing have always been picturesque views in the mountains.
Oh, you have to see some of the views up here. Just breathtaking.
Well, we’re about out of time here. Any last thoughts for the Community?
Honestly, I know it’s a little cliché, but I just want to thank everyone for what they contribute to the program and for being so invested in making what we all do better. Across all of Xbox, we greatly appreciate it.
Definitely. We’re always happy to hear our Xbox Insiders give their feedback.
Well, it was great chatting with you Tyler.
Likewise! Glad I could make it.
Xbox Insiders, be sure to be on the lookout for more content all throughout February including more interviews from the team, a trip down memory lane, and so much more. All of our 10th Anniversary content can be found on our Hub Page.
Until next time! Wynn/
The post Get To Know Our Team: Tyler – Technical Program Manager (Commerce & Subscriptions) appeared first on Xbox Wire.
