UK Retailer Lists NX With a Price!

Last week we reported on a fist full of NX official chatter and unofficial rumours. One of those labeled under "unofficial" was talk that European retailers was being summed to Nintendo's EU HQ under strict NDA. 

UPDATE 2: And... it's gone. Which in itself is a little odd why get rid of a place holder unless A) they was asked to or B) someone in the office was just being... foolish. After all the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines is STILL ON Amazon despite being cancelled

We've added a screen cap of the original listing at the bottom.


UPDATE 1: Tesco Direct has since removed the pricing but kept the product page.

Well looks like there might be something to that as today UK supermarket retailer TESCO posted an listing for the NX, including an price an rather surprising £349.99.

Of cause its likely that its simply a place holder but its worth noting IF this is in reaction to something Tesco saw the price must reflect that they believed it was worth the same as an PS4 at launch (or an PS4 Pro 1TB) which if true is rather surprising considering a lot of the leaks say the NX will be a low powered (compared to home console) handheld first hybrid. Are the Eurogamer "Tegra Powered" rumours true or is the more to the NX than we know? (which admitted is basically nothing)

Abe's Take
Could we be about to get a reveal? We are now 158 days form the estimated release and announcing anything in the November/December Christmas marketing blast seems somewhat foolish and any later than that and there wouldn't be enough time to build enough hype for the new machine.

NX: Pokemon Confirmed, an Cheeky Indie, and Announcement Rumour

Well things have been a little quiet on the NX front for a while, a little too quiet actually. There haven't been any claims that it runs on tears, harnesses the heart of a dying star, or any of the usual chatter.


Today we have an company confirming NX support (no its not an indie) and the closest to an official source on what form the NX will be, an cheeky Nindie, and an exciting rumour.

Soon?

First the 'real' news.
Today news has broken via an Wall Street Journal interview with Pokemon Company president Tasunekazu Ishihara who when asked about the NX had this to say.

"The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a hand-held device. We will make games for the NX."

This is rather huge news because A) this is first time someone from Nintendo (well close enough) has suggested the NX was any kind of hybrid device, as typically it has been referred to as a home (Reggie) or dedicated game console (Iwata). B) Pokemon company refuses to make core Pokemon games for home systems (though it has released the Stadium, Colosseum and Snap spin offs on home systems).

Now the rumour.
There has been various bits of chatter over the last few weeks that the NX announcement was coming by the end of the month. With some sources stating that we would see an announcement Direct this month and then an full on reveal event in October. The most recent rumour stated there was announcement "next week" and that was last week (just).

Now today's rumour, again from multiple sources is saying that many European retailers are being summoned to Nintendo Europe in Germany for "something about Nintendo", the sources say its unlikely the rest of us will know whats happening until Nintendo announces it themselves due to the strict nature of the NDA's involved.

This nicely lines up with a story last week that Nintendo's developer portal (the place devs get software for Nintendo development) had been updated to include HAC 1.0, seeing as neither the 3DS or the Wii U are listed as HAC its believed this is the NX. The update to the portal is said to be gearing up to a developer reveal.

The cheeky Nindie
This is frankly a weird one. Award winning writer and game dev Stephan Dinehart IV (yeah I had to Wiki him too) has today tweeted the following

Signed a lot of NDAs in my life- I'm not a big fan, but every time @Nintendo asks I have nothing but pure joy. #Nindie #NintendoNX #indiedev

— Stephen🕹Dinehart IV (@SEDart4) September 20, 2016

Is confirming an NDA breaking an NDA? Unless Nintendo ninja assassinate him for it we could be in for something interesting from Dinehart, who has won awards for "best writing", "outstanding innovation", "best student design philosophy", and won the "independent games festival".

Abe's Take
SHOW US THE THING!

Wait you want more? fine. That's a lot of NX news today we have one statement from an official source, One respectable (and pubic) confirmation and multiple rumours all converging "soon" could we be actually about to get some real information? If the French March 4th Breath of the Wild Amiibo launch is true than we are little more than 5 months (164 days) away from the NX launch.

Platinum Announces Bayonetta Amiibo

Now I know what you're asking "Wait wasn't a Bayonetta Amiibo announced already?" well yes disembodied internet voice they did confirm Bayonetta would be getting an Smash Bro's Amiibo series version.

So whats going on today? Well its nearly the 2nd anniversary of the Japanese launch of Bayonetta 2 and Yusuke Hashimoto, the game's director has a Big Announcement.

"We’re coming up on Bayonetta 2’s second anniversary, and what better way to commemorate the occasion than with a new figure?

And what better figure than an amiibo?

I’m afraid that this little taste is all I can give you right now, since we’re still working hard to get her just right. But I assure you that we’re going to capture everything you know and love about Bayonetta – every detail down to the exact sizes of her glasses and eyes – and bring you an amiibo that’ll meet your every expectation.

Back when we were making Bayonetta 2, there wasn’t any talk of bringing the game to life in three dimensions like this. In fact, this is the first time a character from a game I’ve directed has been made into a figure. I’m shocked by how well Bayonetta’s essence has been shrunk down to fit in the palm of your hand! What an amazing era…

I’m really looking forward to the full unveiling of the Bayonetta amiibo, and I hope you’re as excited as I am.

Between the announcement of her amiibo and her Super Smash Bros. debut, 2016 has been quite a year for our favorite witch. It’s a dream come true to see her fighting alongside such storied and beloved characters as Mario and Fox McCloud in Smash Bros.

I’d love to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of Bayonetta’s fans for all the love and support you’ve shown her up to now! I hope she stays in your heart for years to come."

Yes I'm sure the size of her 'Glasses' is a priority *wink*. Sorry where was I? Oh yes that's it. So what is exactly going on here? Nintendo has been the one making all the Smash Amiibo even the third party characters have been Nintendo made*. So either Platinum is heavily involved in the creation process of the smash series or they are making their own.

Judging from today's "announcement" and tying it into Bayonetta 2's anniversary  makes me believe this is actually an 2nd Bayonetta figure which raises the question what functionality will the figure have? personally I'm hoping that follow Shovel Knights example and add co-op to the campaign.

*Shovel Knight was the first Amiibo made by an third party and the upcoming Monster Hunter Stories Capcom has created an entire range of Amiibo for the title.

Abe's Take
It's great to see Bayonetta doing well, The witch dose seem to enjoy here time with Nintendo with the sequel beings exclusive, staring in Smash Bros (Via public vote) and now her own (apparently separate to Smash) Amiibo. I mean they could of just made a statue or regular figure but they went with Amiibo. Lets see what the future holds.

Review: Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight is a 4v1 survival horror game, and graced our computer screens on June 14^th. 4v1 sounds pretty unfair, that is until you realise that the 4 have literally no way to defend themselves and the 1 has some form of murder device. The best part? You can choose to be hunter or prey, and you have a fair bit to choose from in what you play as.

The object of the game is for four survivors to get five generators up and running to power two escape gates, as well as avoiding a murderous man or woman who wanders the map trying to put them on a meathook, summoning the Entity to attempt to take you away if you aren't rescued in time.

Moana Trailer Review

So, with the newest trailer just released, I think it's time to analyse and generally comment on the upcoming Disney film – Moana.

If you've not seen the trailer yet, find it below and watch away. Or skip ahead to the review beneath.

Sorry Sony Brothers and Sisters, No Mods for You.

So the last 24 hours haven't been as kind to Sony as they should of been, after all they announced not only a slim PS4 but also an suped up PS4 Pro. It wouldn't be wrong to expect cries of delight but the narrative hasn't been as positive as it should be (outside the core PS fan-base). Fan's are question why the Pro is weaker than Scropio (4.2 TF v 6.2TF), questions about shared PS4/Pro game library, and why doesn't the Pro support ultra Blu-ray when the Xbox One S supports it. 

Now Bethesda has stepped forward with some more news. PlayStation Fallout fans have been waiting desperately for mod support for Fallout 4. Today Bethesda finally gave an answer and sadly its not good. Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition have had their mod support official canceled. The reason for this final solution? Well its all apparently down to Sony's attitude towards mods. Here's what Bethesda has to say about it.

"After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition.

"Like you, we are disappointed by Sony’s decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive. We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience. However, until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available.

"We will provide an update if and when this situation changes."

This shouldn't be such a surprise as it is. Bethesda has had real trouble getting mods to work with the limitations that Sony had placed on them. Not just the 900MB storage limit but issues with audio codecs which Sony evidently refused to budge on. The PS4 uses an proprietary audio codec which without either giving A) modders access to or B) Bethesda a means of conversion meant PS4 mods couldn't feature any audio not found in the base game/DLC. I'm sure we'll get more information as fans bombard Bethesda with questions/praise/insults.

Its not hard to believe Bethesda's comments on this, They have always had issues with the PlayStation versions of their titles. Lets not forget MS paid for 1 month exclusivity on Skyrim only for the PS launch of the DLC to be so marred in technical problems it wouldn't launch properly for nearly a year.

Between Fallout, Skyrim and Ark (admittedly that's different) it was looking like consoles was finally getting real mod support. Hopefully our PS Brothers and Sisters can make Sony see the error of their ways, nothing like a bit of consumer pressure to right the ship.

Abe's Take

This will certainly hurt sales of Skyrim on PS4 since the most hyped feature of the upcoming relaunch and it depending on how Sony responds could affect PS4 Pro's relationship with Bethesda. It's possible if Sony responds "well" to Bethesda's announcement, they might adjust the PS4 Pro to support mods but if they respond aggressively returning with an allegation of their own it could push Bethesda into Microsoft's camp, We all ready know Fallout VR is heading to Scorpio, could that now become exclusive for reasons beyond power?