Doublejump Digest: February 25, 2017
As expected, the Nintendo Switch headlines again — it’s out next week!
In the spirit of keeping our readers up-to-date with what’s going on in the video game industry, the Doublejump Digest is a brief collection of the major news stories that happened in the past week. Keep an eye out for the Digest every Saturday night, and head into the archive if you’ve missed any!
Major news releases:
The Switch will not launch with a Virtual Console; purchases will be tied to one system:
As with its predecessor, Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch will not include a version of its Virtual Console downloadable retro game service. While it did not reveal any further details about the service, including whether or not it will include GameCube titles, it did promise to “share more information in the future”.
In related news, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development General Manager Shinya Takahashi recently told the press that system owners will not be able to share digitally-purchased content between Switch systems despite them being tied to a centralised Nintendo Account. He acknowledged that this may change in the future, but that players should not expect anything to change in the near future.
Irrational Games is now named Ghost Story Games:
The studio, which is headed by BioShock creator Ken Levine, is hiring for a new project that it refers to as a “new immersive sci-fi game with RPG elements”. While this may sound similar to the developer’s previous work, the company has made it clear that it is not working on a new BioShock game.
Kojima: Death Stranding will feature “a lot of freedom of choice”:
Metal Gear Solid series director Hideo Kojima told PlayStation Australia that his next project, Death Stranding, will be an “open-world, action game” that will offer players “a lot of freedom of choice”. As for the game’s eponymous “strands” concept, the legendary designer explained that it will be a new form of weapon that offers a different experience to simply relying on guns.
As for the choice of using Guerilla Games’ Decima game engine, Kojima revealed that the developer did not ask for any financial compensation prior to sharing its source code, but simply asked to work collaboratively with Kojima’s own Kojima Productions throughout Death Stranding’s creation.
AMD’s Ryzen CPUs are giving Intel a run for its money:
AMD officially announced that its three Intel Core i7-rivalling Ryzen 7 processors — the 1800X, 1700X, and 1700 — will be released on March 2 at a special event earlier in the week. All three parts will feature eight cores and sixteen threads, will be overclocking-friendly, and will represent the top of AMD’s consumer processor line. The 1700, 1700X, and 1800X will retail for $469, $569, and $699 respectively; representing lower price points and up to 46 percent better performance than their Intel Core i7 counterparts. The company also demonstrated comparisons between its lower-priced six-core Ryzen 5 and four-core Ryzen 3 processors and their Intel counterparts, but those will be released to the public following the Ryzen 7 launch.
Future Halo shooters will include split-screen
Speaking at this year’s DICE summit, 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross revealed that future first-person shooter Halo titles will feature split-screen gameplay. She acknowledged that omitting the feature in Halo 5: Guardians really irked series fans and, when combined with missteps such as Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s extensive online issues, “erodes [their] trust” in the developer.
Valve will start charging GST on the local Steam store:
Kotaku has reported that Valve plans to begin charging Australian consumers GST (a local form of value-added tax) from the start of the next financial year on July 1. Valve stipulated that prices shown on the Steam Store will include GST, unlike in the US where taxes are often not calculated upfront, so developers and publishers may begin to increase prices by 10 percent in order to compensate for the tax.
The Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy is a timed PlayStation exclusive:
PlayStation’s official Irish Twitter account recently revealed that Activision’s upcoming platforming throwback compilation will only be exclusive to PS4 systems for an undisclosed amount of time. This will mean that the first three Crash Bandicoot games will finally appear on a non-Sony platform, however, publisher Activision is yet to formally announce PC or Xbox One versions of N. Sane Trilogy.
Major trailer releases:
MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA — Combat Profiles & Squads:
The second video in the game’s gameplay overview series delves deeper into how players can customise their combat profiles (a changeable adaptation of the original series’ classes) to improve their chances during firefights. The video also briefly touches upon how players can level up their six available squadmates in order to maximise their effectiveness in battle.
Horizon Zero Dawn — Launch Trailer:
Guerilla Games’ critically-acclaimed action title is coming out next week, and Sony wants to remind you that it’s a very, very pretty game.
Injustice 2 — Shattered Alliances Part 1:
This brief story trailer shows a more threatening side to the Man of Steel than we’re used to.
Other news:
- Blizzard has revealed some new details about the Overwatch League: WWG
- Commander Shepard’s gender will affect Mass Effect: Andromeda’s story: Game Informer
- Bethesda is working on three new projects that are “bigger” than any of its previous games: Glixel
- That leaked Nintendo Switch from last week was actually stolen: GameSpot
- We may yet see a new Sunset Overdrive: Game Informer
- Check out the winners of this year’s DICE Awards: IGN
- Here’s a teaser poster for Netflix’s animated Castlevania show: DualShockers
- Nintendo Switch media kits include special messages from Reggie Fils-Aime and Eiji Aonuma: Eurogamer
- Assassin’s Creed Rogue and Borderlands 2 have been added to the Xbox One backwards compatibility list: GameSpot
- That cancelled BioShock movie was really close to entering production: GamesRadar
