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    Project Sakura Wars releases on December 12th in Japan

    Sakura Wars visual

    Sega has announced that Project Sakura Wars will release on December 12th in Japan. The game is slated for a spring 2020 release in North America and Europe. Additionally, first-print copies of the game will include a PS4 theme. A limited edition and digital deluxe edition will also be available, containing a soundtrack CD and 72-page artbook. Sega is hosting a hands-on event for the game on August 31st in Tokyo. Provided below is the latest trailer and Sega-hosted stream for Project Sakura Wars:

    We will keep you all updated on more information and upcoming titles from Sega at Final Weapon. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!

    Opinion: Digital storefronts on consoles need more incentives

    More people are purchasing games on digital storefronts than ever before. One of the greatest draws of digital gaming lies with convenience of access and purchase compared to physical media. Slowly but surely, an all-digital future for console gaming is within reach.

    Yet there are several drawbacks present within digital gaming, including the idea that the player does not truly “own” their digital titles. Alongside other factors, physical media continues to remain the largest driver of sales in the AAA gaming market. Some prefer to own a collection of games, and others want the flexibility to share their game with others.

    While I have recently opened up my gaming purchases to encompass digital titles, physical media remains my personal preference. Yet if the digital storefronts on consoles featured more quality-of-life changes that made digital gaming more appealing, it could become the ideal means of purchasing games.

    Digital Game Pricing

    With few exceptions to the rule, suggested pricing of most new game releases are identical on physical and digital storefronts. When Death Stranding releases, the average consumer will pay $60 USD to play the game regardless of its format. And down the line, discounts on the game are inevitable across physical and digital storefronts.

    Digital games tend to receive heavier discounts after release (especially with PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold). However, physical games often follow suit and tend to have price cuts that are more permanent. Under those conditions, there are minuscule differences in costs between physical and digital media from the initial purchase.

    Yet physical media is associated with higher manufacturing and shipping costs. On a game-to-game basis, developers and publishers obtain a smaller portion of revenue from physical sales than digital sales. Therefore, the natural conclusion is that they want to encourage players to purchase their games digitally. However, the benefits of accessibility and reliability associated with physical games prevent the digital space from dominating the gaming industry.

    Making Adjustments

    In order to combat this perception, digital storefronts on consoles need to implement new strategies to spur digital game sales without alienating players that prefer physical media. Besides hosting more frequent and robust sales, fundamental changes in the distribution of digital media and its associated benefits are key to adapting to the changing landscape.

    Nintendo currently has several strategies to encourage the purchase of digital games. For one, purchasing a physical copy of a game only nets you one-fifth of the gold coins one would normally receive from a digital purchase (i.e. 60 coins instead of 300 coins for a full- priced game). These coins accumulate over time and allow you to discount titles of your choice on the Nintendo eShop.

    The other strategy is the recent promotion of Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers. For $99.99, consumers can obtain two vouchers to redeem on any eligible game released within a year of purchase. Effectively, it provides a $20 discount for players that are confident paying ahead of time to redeem games down the line. It appears this promotion is temporary, only lasting until July 31st, but it would not be surprising to see it return in the near future.

    Microsoft offers a similar rewards program that encompasses Xbox, allowing users to earn points purchasing games and completing tasks. Sony currently has nothing along those lines for the PlayStation Store, although they offer a credit card tailored to people that purchase games frequently on the PlayStation Store.

    A Permanent Discount

    While these strategies certainly set the foundation for a digital-friendly future, concerns surrounding digital gaming are significant enough to warrant a bigger change: permanent price cuts. For example, a digital game would feature a lower price tag from day one compared to its physical counterpart. This accomplishes two major goals for digital gaming. Firstly, it positions digital media as the cheaper alternative to physical media. Secondly, it eases some of the complaints levied at digital gaming in its current state.

    As stated prior, most point out that people do not fully “own” their digital purchases. If an outage were to occur within a gaming ecosystem, one would lose access to games not installed on the hard drive. Not to mention, digital games take up much space (especially on the Nintendo Switch) and require additional purchases to upgrade storage. These are clear drawbacks, but providing digital games at a cheaper price point helps mitigate some concerns.

    Conclusion

    Even as someone that gravitates towards physical media, it remains clear that digital gaming will dominate the upcoming generations. PlayStation 5 might ensure that physical media lasts one more console generation, but the writing is nearly on the wall. The transition will be abrupt for the non-digital crowd, and some will actively question the legitimacy of digital gaming. With the right adjustments to the digital storefronts, however, more people will view digital gaming in a positive light.

    5 minute Astral Chain overview trailer

    A brand new trailer for Astral Chain has been uploaded to the official Nintendo of Japan YouTube channel! The trailer provides an overview for some of the abilities that the playable Neuron officer may use in-game. Here’s a description of Astral Chain from the official Nintendo page:

    Master multiple combat styles in this synergetic action game!

    Humanity’s last chance against an interdimensional invasion is a special living weapon called the Legion. As a rookie officer in the elite police task force Neuron, you and your Legion will work together to solve cases and save humankind.

    The ASTRAL CHAIN game gives you full control over two characters at once for thrilling Synergetic Action, courtesy of PlatinumGames. Alternate between several Legion types and skills to save the world your way.

    ASTRAL CHAIN features character designs by the acclaimed manga artist Masakazu Katsura (ZETMAN, Video Girl Ai), and marks the directorial debut of PlatinumGames’ Takahisa Taura (designer of NieR:Automata). Hideki Kamiya, director of the Bayonetta game and writer/supervisor of the Bayonetta 2 game, provides supervision.

    Astral Chain is slated to release on August 30th for Nintendo Switch. What are your thoughts on Astral Chain? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!

    Nintendo Switch Disney Tsum Tsum Festival bundle has been announced for Japan

    A Disney Tsum Tsum Festival Nintendo Switch bundle has been announced in Japan.

    Image result for disney tsum tsum festival

    This bundle will feature a Disney Tsum Tsum Festival themed dock, and Disney Tsum Tsum Festival themed Joy-Con. As seen above, the Joy-Con are purple and pink. The Nintendo Switch inside the bundle will be the new revised model with better battery life. It will also include a copy of Disney Tsum Tsum Festival, which launches on October 10th in Japan.

    Image

    Earn coins, rack up points and collect Tsum Tsums! It’s a big party with Disney’s fluffiest little plushes!

    These cute and fluffy toys are coming to the Nintendo Switch and ready to delight Disney fans of all ages. Play a variety of activities with your Tsum Tsum and start racking up points to build up your collection of little friends.

     

    Infliction, a psychological horror game, comes to consoles and Switch this year

    It appears that a psychological horror game looms on the horizon for console users. Infliction is a title from two different studios. On one hand there’s Blowfish Studios, who have developed and published a wide array of indie titles. On the other though is Caustic Reality, who featured this title as their first game.

    Infliction itself is an exploration of the dark aspects that can hide in something as simple as a normal home. You go through the game, discovering pieces of evidence that answer why you’re there as well as what’s going on. The concept is similar to the critically acclaimed Gone Home, but with a much darker setting. The key difference to this game is that you’re not alone. Someone, or something is inside the house and seeks to tear you apart from the inside. It’s waiting for its perfect moment to strike you. You must try to discover the truth before it’s too late, and the being takes you over.

    The game has received awards from groups like Pax Aus and Player2.net.au, and has an 85% recommendation rating on Steam making it a solid title. If you’re looking to play it on consoles, you thankfully don’t have to wait long. The game will release on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One during Q4 of 2019. If you own a PC, you can pick up the game right now for $19.99!

    New Home and Xbox Voice Commands roll out to Xbox Insiders

    As Xbox Insiders, feedback helps inform the decisions and updates we can make on Xbox, from new features to how gamers interact with the console itself. Based on valuable feedback, Xbox has been continuing to iterate on two key experiences on Xbox, delivering a faster Home experience and evolving the way they support Xbox voice commands to improve the voice experience.

    From Xbox Wire:

    Evolving Home

    The Home on Xbox One is the first thing you see when you turn on your Xbox One, and we want to deliver an easy and seamless experience for you to navigate your console. We’ve heard your feedback and have continued to iterate on Home to get you into your gaming experiences faster and keeping more of your content front and center. With today’s update, we’re experimenting with a streamlined user interface.

    With this new experimental Home design, the first thing you’ll notice is we’ve removed the Twists from the top of Home in favor of separate buttons that launch your gaming experiences. The goal is to let you jump into Xbox Game Pass, Mixer, Xbox Community and Microsoft Store quicker than ever. We’ve also shifted things around to make more room for your recently played titles.

    We need your help testing out the new interface. The new experimental Home rolls out this week to select Xbox Insiders in our Alpha and Alpha Skip Ahead rings. For more details on rollout, keep an eye on the Xbox Insiders section of Xbox Wire. The Home experience will continue to evolve and change based on your feedback, so please let us know what you think and share your ideas for Home at the Xbox Ideas Hub. You may see this layout change and even come and go as we iterate on your feedback.

    Changes to voice commands on Xbox One

    Last fall, we expanded Xbox voice commands to hundreds of millions of smart devices by enabling Xbox One to connect with Xbox Skill for Cortana and Alexa-enabled devices. Xbox Skill continues to grow and change based on your feedback, including new updates that rolled out earlier this month.

    Building on these efforts, we are now further evolving the way we support voice commands on Xbox and are moving away from on-console experiences to cloud-based assistant experiences. This means you can no longer talk to Cortana via your headset. However, you can use the Xbox Skill for Cortana via the Cortana app on iOS, Android, and Windows or via Harmon Kardon Invoke speaker to power your Xbox One, adjust volume, launch games and apps, capture screenshots, and more —just as you can do with Alexa-enabled devices today. We’ll also continue to improve the Xbox Skill across supported digital assistants and continue expanding our Xbox voice capabilities in the future based on fan feedback.

    Starting this week, this update will roll out to the Alpha Skip Ahead ring and will fully rollout to all users this fall.  As part of these changes, this update will temporarily disable dictation for the virtual keyboard on Xbox One. Don’t worry though, as the team is working to provide an alternative solution and will have more details to share soon.

     

     

    Free Joy-Con repair seems to be limited to North America

    According to a new Reddit post, it seems that Nintendo UK will not repair Joy-Con for free, and that it is only valid in North America.

    The statement reads: “A statement was released by Nintendo of America acknowledging known issues with Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers. Our Nintendo UK process stays the same..”

    From this statement we can assume that only North America will be given free Joy-Con repair, and Europe, Japan, and other countries will not have this option.

    It makes somewhat sense, as the Class-Action lawsuit that Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith or CSK&D filed was in the United States. However, it is unfair that anyone outside of North America cannot get their Joy-Con repaired. You can take a look at Nintendo of America’s statement about Joy-Con drift here. Will we have to wait for a lawsuit to start in Europe so customers can get their Joy-Con repaired for free? Only time will tell.

    What do you think of this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and join the conversation on Twitter!

    Lunatic difficulty coming to Fire Emblem: Three Houses through a free update after release

    Lunatic has served to be a challenging difficulty setting in previous Fire Emblem games. It will be returning in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. In a post release update, lunatic difficulty will be added. According to Nintendo Everything, Three Houses director Genki Yokota confirmed this information via interview in Famitsu this week.

    We will continue to update you all on more information regarding Fire Emblem: Three Houses as it’s made available. Fire Emblem: Three Houses releases on this Friday, July 26th 2019! Any thoughts on Lunatic difficulty arriving in Three Houses after release? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!

    Borderlands 3 invites you to visit Promethea

    Borderlands 3 is just over a month away from being in our hands, and the closer we get to September 13th, the more information we get.

    The official Borderlands 3 Twitter tweeted out a short video inviting all of us to Visit Promethea, which is home to the Atlas Corporation.

    Home to the Atlas corporation headquarters, Promethea is a metropolitan world covered in futuristic towers of chrome and glass. A recent siege by Maliwan has turned the urban environment into a warzone; their mechanized infantry patrol the streets, rodent/insect hybrids known as Ratches infest the sewers and back-alleys, and the Children of the Vault are seizing the opportunity to recruit displaced and disgruntled citizens. Atlas CEO Rhys Strongfork is getting desperate. 

    To learn more about other planets in the world of Borderlands 3, head over here and get loot ready by September 13th!

     

    Cyberpunk 2077 will feature no in-game pre-order bonus

    CD Projekt Red is continuing its mentality of supporting the consumer, and it seems like its paying off. According to the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account, the game will feature absolutely no pre-order bonuses. The news was discovered when Reddit user u/TLOU2_God_pls_now spoke to the official account asking if PS4 would get pre-order bonuses. In response, the account had the following to say:

    “No, we don’t do that. Every person that buys the game gets exactly the same in-game content, no matter if they buy it in pre-orders, on release date, or 2 years later.”

    It’s a very solid move for CD Projekt to make and makes sense with their company mentality. Mind you it likely lowers the amount of pre-orders, but it’s a sacrifice made in name of the consumer. That should no doubt be commended.

    If you don’t know what Cyberpunk is (which would surprise me), it’s an upcoming RPG game by CD Projekt Red. If you’re thinking of making a pre-order yourself considering this, thankfully they’re available now. Cyberpunk 2077 will be available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 16th, 2020 for $59.99.